The Minnesota Vikings closed their preseason with a 34-6 loss to the Broncos on Friday night in Denver, and the result mattered less than the decisions hanging over Sunday’s roster cut deadline. None of Minnesota’s starters played, but the final tune-up still brought a new problem when Jacob Thomas rolled his ankle in the first quarter and did not return.
That is why the Vikings 53-man roster search has turned so sharply toward the margins. The team must trim to 53 players by Sunday afternoon, and injuries at safety make Thomas’ situation more than a footnote. Kevin O’Connell said after the game that the undrafted free-agent safety has an ankle sprain and will get an MRI this weekend, leaving one of the depth spots unsettled at the exact moment Minnesota is trying to settle the roster.
The injury also sits inside a broader preseason picture that has not made life easy for the quarterback room. J.J. McCarthy left the second preseason game with an ankle injury, practiced on Monday and Tuesday, and then got Wednesday off so he could rest enough to start Friday’s final matchup. He did not play against the Broncos, while Carson Wentz started and appears to be in line to be the team’s backup. For McCarthy, the question is no longer whether he can suit up in a pinch. It is whether the team views his comfort with being QB3 as part of its plan for Minnesota now and for the future.
That uncertainty reaches beyond quarterback. The Vikings value Nick Brosmer’s smarts and knowledge of the system, but his preseason performance cast doubt on his future. At running back, Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason and Demond Claiborne were projected to make the cut, even as Scott’s understanding of special teams complicated that call and his 105 offensive snaps in 2025 left open the possibility that he could be slid to the practice squad. Receiver and tight end also remain crowded, with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jauan Jennings, Tai Felton and Myles Price projected in at wideout, and T.J. Hockenson, Josh Oliver, Ben Yurosek and Gavin Bartholomew projected at tight end, where the No. 3 job remains one of the key pivot points.
That is the shape of the Vikings’ weekend: one loss that means little, one injury that may matter a lot, and a quarterback picture that still does not feel settled even after the preseason ended. By Sunday afternoon, the roster will be cut down, and the most important answers will come from the players who are left standing.
