The Minnesota Vikings elevated DeeJay Dallas on Saturday for Sunday’s regular-season opener against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium. They also elevated Kyle Van Noy, giving the team two more active-player options before Week 1.
The timing matters because the Vikings are not making these moves in the middle of the season, but on the eve of a divisional opener that can shape the first month. Dallas gives the roster another layer at a position where depth often gets tested quickly, while Van Noy arrives with a longer track record and a clear role in the game plan.
Van Noy signed with the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad on Sept. 2 and was elevated from there on Saturday. He is in his 13th NFL season and has 57 career sacks in 173 regular-season games, a résumé that helps explain why the Vikings would want him available for a matchup like this.
There is also a sharper edge to his elevation. Van Noy set a career high with 12.5 sacks in 2024 with the Baltimore Ravens, then finished with two sacks in 15 games in 2025. That drop is hard to ignore, even if the Vikings planned to work him into a pass-rush group headlined by Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel.
His connection to Brian Flores adds another layer. Van Noy played under Flores during his time with the New England Patriots, and the two were together for New England’s Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LIII championship seasons. Van Noy later followed Flores to the Miami Dolphins in 2020 before returning to the New England Patriots for another season in 2021.
That background gives the elevation a familiar shape: a veteran Flores knows, inserted for a game that will ask for immediate value. What remains unclear is how long Dallas or Van Noy will stay on the active side of the roster after Sunday, but for now the move says the Vikings want every possible option on hand when they open against the Green Bay Packers.
