Vikings Suddenly Terminate RB Contract Before Packers Game

The Minnesota Vikings have officially ended their brief relationship with running back Jermar Jefferson, waiving him from injured reserve on Friday in a move that amounts to an injury settlement and a clean break from the roster, via the NFL transaction log.

Jefferson’s time in Minnesota lasted barely a month. The Vikings signed the former Detroit Lions seventh-round pick on Aug. 12 to a one-year, $1.005 million contract and waived Jordan Mims in a corresponding move.

Minnesota was looking for backfield depth behind a room already in flux, and Jefferson arrived as a known commodity from the NFC North with a strong college résumé.

At Oregon State he rushed for nearly 3,000 yards and scored 29 total touchdowns in 27 games, earning 2020 Co-Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year honors from The Associated Press. In the NFL, the 26-year-old Harbor City, Calif., product has been far more limited.

Across 11 career games — most of them with Detroit — he has 21 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns, plus five catches for 33 yards. Last season he appeared in two games for Arizona, almost exclusively on special teams.

He made a modest case in the preseason, leading Minnesota with 74 rushing yards on 11 carries over three exhibitions. That production was not enough to survive final cuts.

On Aug. 30, the Vikings waived him with an injury designation. After he cleared waivers, he reverted to injured reserve with an undisclosed injury and appeared set to miss the entire 2026 season.

Friday’s transaction closed that chapter. Reporter Aaron Wilson noted that Jefferson was the only Viking among several players waived league-wide that day.

Because the waiver was listed as “no recall,” Minnesota cannot reclaim him. The practical effect is an injury settlement that frees him to sign elsewhere once healthy, including a possible reunion with Detroit.

The stay was not without a sour note. The NFL fined Jefferson $5,583 for a facemask penalty on Broncos returner Kolbe Katsis during Minnesota’s 34-6 preseason finale. It was a first-offense fine below the league maximum, but it was an unwelcome addendum to a short tenure.

For the Vikings, the move is low-stakes roster hygiene: an injured reserve spot opened and a veteran who never cracked the 53 is gone.

For Jefferson, it is another stop in a career spent bouncing between practice squads and short contracts with Detroit, Tennessee, Arizona, San Francisco, and now Minnesota. Healthy again, he will look for a practice-squad landing spot and one more chance to turn college production into a lasting NFL role.

The Vikings will face the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 this Sunday.