Preparations for Sunday’s regular season and home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars will be full-steam ahead on Wednesday. So today, let’s take a look at a group of players who will play important roles in aiding the Vikings in those preparations – the practice squad.
Teams use the practice squad primarily as a roster mechanism to procure the development (and hopefully future production) of young players who aren’t quite ready to hold down a spot on the 53-man roster. But an ancillary function of a practice squad player is helping the team prepare for the upcoming opponent.
The Vikings announced their full practice squad on Monday. Here is a quick look at all eight of those players…
DT Chase Baker – He signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent and had a solid training camp. Baker was on the North squad at this year’s Senior Bowl, which gave the Vikings a detailed look at him prior to the draft. Baker measures in at 6-0, 300 pounds and played college football at Boise State.
CB Bobby Felder – Another undrafted rookie free agent who spent camp with the Vikings, Felder is around the ball a lot and ultimately showed enough for the Vikings to want to keep him around. Felder had a productive career (5 INTs and 3 blocked kicks as a senior in 2011) at Nicholls State and measures in at 5-11, 200 pounds.
WR Tori Gurley – Described as a receiver in a TE’s body, Gurley measures in at 6-4, 232 pounds and had a productive career at South Carolina, totaling 75 receptions for 905 yards and 6 TDs. He signed with the Packers last year as an undrafted free agent and spent the season on their practice squad.
OL Tyler Holmes – A 4-year starter and letterwinner at Tulsa, Holmes was actually selected with the 7th overall pick in the CFL Draft, but he ultimately signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent and spent training camp impressing coaches enough to earn a spot on the practice squad. He started all 46 games he played at Tulsa, received his bachelor’s degree in management in May of 2011 and played last season while pursuing a Master’s degree in business.
OL Kevin Murphy – An undrafted rookie free agent from Harvard, Murphy signed with the Vikings just days before training camp. He measures in at 6-7, 305 pounds.
DE Ernest Owusu – A long and lean DE, Owusu is a product of California and had a productive career there, playing in 42 games with 18 starts and recoding 14.0 tackles for loss and 8.0 sacks. He signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent.
WR Chris Summers – Another tall receiver listed at 6-5, 215 pounds, Summers signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent and was waived last week. A product of Liberty, Summers joins Gurley as former members of division rivals who are now on the Vikings practice squad.
RB Jordan Todman – Signed off the San Diego Chargers practice squad last December, Todman was injured for much of training camp but performed well once healthy this preseason, capping off the exhibition season with a 10-carry, 114-yard, 1 TD outing against the Houston Texans. He was originally a 6th-round pick of the Chargers in 2011.
