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Aug 22, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Minnesota Vikings linebacker Austin Keys (56) celebrates a tackle for loss against the Tennessee Titan during the first half at Nissan Stadium. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

3 takeaways from Vikings' 53-man roster: UDFAs galore, changes coming

Originally posted on Minnesota Vikings on SI
By Will Ragatz | Last updated Aug 26, 2025 6:43 PM ET

The Vikings revealed their initial 53-man roster for the 2025 season on Tuesday afternoon. It's a group that has a few surprises, a remarkable number of undrafted rookies, and plenty of remaining questions. It's also 100 percent going to undergo at least a couple changes between now and the regular season opener on September 8.

Let's dive into three takeaways...

HOW many UDFAs?

Of the 53 players on the roster, a whopping seven of them are undrafted rookies: QB Max Brosmer, OL Joe Huber, TE Ben Yurosek, WR Myles Price, DT Elijah Williams, OLB Chaz Chambliss, and LB Austin Keys. That doesn't include OLB Tyler Batty, who sticks around on injured reserve with a designation to return.

Seven UDFAs is easily the most I can remember making the Vikings' initial roster since I've been covering the team. That's 13 percent of the roster! I'd have to imagine it's the most kept by any team in the NFL this year. To complement a small draft haul, the Vikings spent aggressively in college free agency and put together quite the 20-member UDFA class this spring. We knew the class had some real intrigue and promise, but to think that seven players made the cut is wild. And three names who generated buzz earlier this year — OT Logan Brown, WR Silas Bolden, and CB Zemaiah Vaughn — weren't even among the seven.

There are a couple ways to look at this, and both can be true. The optimistic view is that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and his staff continue to shine in their undrafted free agency process, from scouting to actually landing players they think have a shot. There are four other players on this roster (Ivan Pace Jr., Dwight McGlothern, Bo Richter, and Ryan Wright) who signed as UDFAs over the previous three years. These are real scouting and development success stories. A special shoutout should go to Williams, who made it after attending rookie minicamp as a tryout player.

The pessimistic view is that a team that keeps seven undrafted rookies on its initial 53 probably hasn't drafted very well and probably has some serious depth concerns at certain spots. After trading away Mekhi Blackmon on Monday, only four of the 16 players the Vikings drafted in 2022 and 2023 are still on the roster. That poor hit rate, along with this year's five-player class (with one of those five, Gavin Bartholomew, on the reserve/PUP list), created the room for so many undrafted guys.

7 members of the Vikings' 2025 UDFA class made the initial roster. Some possible explanations, all of which can be true:

+ Team is holding some through the 1st waiver wave to get them onto the practice squad
+ Team has run up against its cash budget
+ They are good players
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) August 26, 2025

Changes are coming

Every year, it's important to note that the initial group of 53 should not be written down in Sharpie. Teams will make waiver claims and sign free agents and perhaps make trades over remainder of the week. That feels especially true with this current Vikings team.

Wide receiver depth remains a glaring concern right now. Beyond Justin Jefferson, the Vikings are without their No. 2 receiver (Jordan Addison) for three games due to suspension, and their No. 3 receiver (Jalen Nailor) has a hand injury that could cause him to miss time. The other guys who made the roster are a veteran with 17 career catches (Tim Jones) and a pair of rookies (Tai Felton and Myles Price).

At least one impact addition is needed at that position prior to Week 1, and maybe two. You simply can't show up to Soldier Field in the opener with Jones and Felton as J.J. McCarthy's top two non-Jefferson wideouts. Whether it's Adam Thielen, K.J. Osborn, or someone else, a minimum of one move is coming at that position.

The same can be said at cornerback. The Vikings kept just four of them on their initial roster: Byron Murphy Jr., Isaiah Rodgers, Jeff Okudah, and McGlothern. They're seemingly putting a lot of faith in Okudah panning out as their No. 3 corner. Just from a pure numbers standpoint, they clearly need to add at least one more CB. And they may want it to be someone — like Stephon Gilmore, for example — who comes with a higher floor than Okudah does.

Wide receiver and corner are also far from the only two positions where the Vikings could explore external additions this week.

The biggest surprises

These are what I would consider to be the most notable surprises on the roster:

Chambliss making it over Gabriel Murphy. It felt like Murphy was pretty safe as the No. 4 outside linebacker on the roster and might have a real rotational role this year. Instead, he was waived. Chambliss had a strong preseason, and special teams abilities presumably contributed to him and Richter making it over Murphy. Still, I think this is a move they could come to regret. It would be another surprise if no team claims Murphy on waivers and the Vikings can get the UCLA product through to their practice squad.

Keys making the cut. I didn't really consider the possibility of the Vikings keeping a fifth inside linebacker, even if Keys did some good things in the preseason. I figured they'd keep the obvious top four there and try to get a guy like Keys to the practice squad. They must be really excited about his upside. Only keeping four corners created an extra spot at both LB and safety.

10 offensive linemen. Teams typically will keep three or four backup offensive linemen. The Vikings have five: Justin Skule, Walter Rouse, Blake Brandel, Michael Jurgens, and Huber. They clearly didn't want to risk losing any of those guys. Huber may have played too well in the preseason to be snuck through waivers.

Both RB3 candidates making it. Ty Chandler and Zavier Scott, the two players competing for the Vikings' No. 3 running back role, both made the team. Now, a big reason for that is fullback C.J. Ham starting the year on IR. But the Vikings could've still cut one of the two backs and kept someone like Murphy, so rostering both (for now) is interesting.

Lucky Jackson, Kahlef Hailassie, and Vaughn also qualify as somewhat notable cuts, but none of those are too surprising.