The Vikings finished the preseason with a 13-3 victory over the Titans on Thursday night, and now all eyes are on the cuts the Vikings have to make in order to trim the roster to 53 players by Saturday’s deadline.
Among the players on the cut line is wide receiver Brandon Zylstra, whose performance against the Titans might’ve clinched his status as one of the 53 players.
Zylstra, the Spicer, Minnesota native who starred at Concordia College-Moorhead and in the Canadian Football League before signing with the Vikings, finished with four catches for 54 yards and an impressive touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone.
1️⃣➡️1️⃣5️⃣@Kylesloter and @Brandon_zylstra add to the #Vikings lead. pic.twitter.com/ZPc0xBBH2T
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 31, 2018
Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Laquon Treadwell and Kendall Wright are all locks to make the team, so Zylstra is essentially competing for one open wide receiver job with Chad Beebe, Stacey Coley, Cayleb Jones, Tavarres King, Jake Wieneke, Korey Robertson and Jeff Badet.
Wieneke, a Maple Grove native, is also a name to watch considering he led Vikings receivers with 66 snaps Thursday night. Zylstra outperformed him with 62 snaps, however.
Beebe arguably deserves a spot on the roster more than any of the them, but an injury kept him from playing against Tennessee so it’ll be fascinating to see if the Vikings keep six receivers in order to keep Beebe on the team, or possibly try to slide him through waives and then sign him to the practice squad.
The roster has to be trimmed to 53 players by 3 p.m. Saturday, and if Zylstra is among the players included, he could very well be on a path similar to one that Thielen took advantage of to become a high-quality offensive threat in the NFL.
