In the off-season, the Minnesota Vikings bade farewell to DT Tom Johnson. Johnson was one of the more under rated free agent signings in the Rick Spielman era, having four productive seasons with the team. Originally signed to be a backup to Shariff Floyd, Johnson took over the starting job when Floyd was hurt. In the off-season, the Vikings signed DT Sheldon Richardson from the Seahawks, and Johnson ended up signing with Seattle during free agency. Late last week, though, Seattle had to release Johnson, as they had a laundry list of injured players, and they needed to sign guys at other positions. To keep the roster at 53 players, Seattle released Johnson, with the intention of signing him back this week. Yeah, that ain’t happening now: The #Seahawks won’t be able to re-sign Tom Johnson after all. The #Vikings swooped in after the veteran DT’s release became official Monday and are expected to re-sign him to a one-year deal worth up to $1.5 million, source said. “Sebastian Thunderbucket” rides again. — Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 18, 2018 The Vikings pulled another bit of a Poison Pill scenario on the Seahawks, signing him before Seattle could re-sign him. Now, Johnson adds to what I think is a legitimately monstrous rotation of players at every position. That still leaves unfinished business for the Vikings, as two players will have to be cut, with the impending signing of Dan Bailey looming. Either way, the only missing starter from last year’s defense is back, and it’s welcome news for everyone. Welcome back Tom Johnson, and if we ever make a movie out of this we’ll call it Poison Pill II: Sebatian Thunderbucket’s Johnson.<doc-sep>Yesterday, it was reported that the Vikings were going to reunite with their old pal Tom Johnson. Today, the team made the move official, along with clearing the corresponding space on the roster. David Parry was the odd man out as he was officially waived on Wednesday morning. Parry played 26 snaps at defensive tackle over the first two games of the 2018 season for the Vikings and acquitted himself fairly well. He was credited with a solo tackle, an assisted tackle, and had a sack of Aaron Rodgers last Sunday against the Packers. However, when Johnson was brought back into the fold, Parry became expendable. Parry should be able to find work elsewhere in short order. He could be a helpful rotational piece on a lot of defensive lines throughout the league. Perhaps on a team like, I don’t know...maybe the Seahawks? For those of you scoring at home: So the #Vikings have officially replaced Tom Johnson with Sheldon Richardson and Tom Johnson. — Eric Thompson (@eric_j_thompson) September 19, 2018 The Vikings have now made three official roster changes since their game at Lambeau. Not all of the moves were made at the same time, but these are the net results: Aldrick Robinson signed, Stacy Coley waived signed, waived Dan Bailey signed, Daniel Carlson waived signed, waived Tom Johnson signed, David Parry waived If there were any lingering doubts about whether the Vikings are pushing all their chips in to make a run at the title this season, the moves this week should dispel them. It’s also obvious that players want to be a part of the title run, taking less money to join the team. Even with the Vikings up against the salary cap, they keep finding ways to tweak and improve their roster.<doc-sep>Getty Images The Vikings released defensive tackle David Parry. They needed the roster spot for the signing of defensive tackle Tom Johnson. Johnson, who played for Minnesota from 2014-17, was released by Seattle last week. Parry played only 12 of 77 snaps Sunday against Green Bay, but he had a sack of Aaron Rodgers and made two tackles. Parry, 26, entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Colts in 2015. In two seasons in Indianapolis, he made five sacks and 50 tackles in starting all 32 games. The league, though, suspended Parry for four games last season after police alleged he stole a golf cart while intoxicated. His sentence was two years of supervised probation. With the Saints last season, Parry appeared in only one game and made one tackle while spending time on the practice squad and injured reserve. He signed with the Vikings in May.<doc-sep>
Minnesota Vikings vs Packers in Week 12 could decide the NFC North champs by Adam Carlson The Minnesota Vikings made another roster move on Tuesday as they decided to bring back the veteran defensive tackle who was recently let go by the Seattle Seahawks. This past offseason was pretty eventful for the Minnesota Vikings. Spending a ton of money on free-agents like Kirk Cousins and Sheldon Richardson sent a message to the rest of the NFL that the Vikings were going to be making a run at a Super Bowl in 2018. Even two weeks into the regular season, Minnesota still has not stopped making moves to improve their roster. On Monday, the Vikings let go of rookie kicker Daniel Carlson and replaced him with veteran Dan Bailey. And on Tuesday, Minnesota decided to bring back defensive tackle Tom Johnson according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. Johnson signed with the Seattle Seahawks this year and was expected to be a starter on their defensive line. However, the Seahawks made a roster move last week that resulted in them releasing the veteran defensive tackle. Johnson and Seattle had reportedly worked out a deal on the side that he would re-sign with the team, but obviously another opportunity with the Vikings was too good to pass up for the defensive tackle. To make room for Johnson on their roster, Minnesota will be releasing defensive tackle David Parry according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport So now Johnson is back in the Twin Cities with a defensive line that is already off to a great start in 2018. Getting a guy back who started 15 games for them a season ago improves the Vikings’ defensive depth that was already pretty impressive. Prior to signing with the Seahawks last March, Johnson was a member of Minnesota’s defense from 2014 to 2017. With the Vikings, he appeared in 62 games and racked up a total of 16 sacks.