Even though there are no members of the Minnesota Vikings with an injury designation going into Sunday’s season opener against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium, the team has elevated two veterans from the practice squad to the active roster for Sunday’s game.
The team has announced that it has elevated both running back DeeJay Dallas and outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy to the active roster for the season opener.
Dallas will provide some depth in the backfield for the Vikings behind Jordan
Mason, Aaron Jones, and Demond Claiborne. He also has some skills in the return game and could be used in that capacity next to Myles Price as well if the team chooses to do so. He hasn’t gotten a lot of carries out of the backfield in recent seasons, so perhaps the return game is where we’ll see him used the most.
Van Noy, who will likely be a permanent fixture on the active roster sooner rather than later, will likely serve as one of the primary backups to Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel. He has experience with Brian Flores’ defense, having played for Flores in both New England and Miami, and has spent the past week and a half or so getting reacquainted with the defense after signing with the team after final cuts were made.
This is, obviously, the first elevation for both of these players this season. Players are allowed to be elevated from the practice squad to the active roster three times during the regular season. After that, they must be signed to the active roster if teams want to continue using them on game days.
