ratoppenheimer
Posts: 9394
Joined: 12/9/2007
From: cascais, portugal...still in exile
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. . After being cut from the Minnesota Vikings’ roster as one of the final cuts of training camp this past preseason, defensive lineman Ifeadi Odenigbo wasn’t out of work for long. He spent time on the 53-man rosters of both the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals this season, but when he was released by the Cardinals and he had the opportunity to return to the Vikings’ practice squad, he jumped on it. Now, according to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Odenigbo has had an opportunity to play for a couple of other teams as a part of their 53-man rosters, but has chosen to stick with the Vikings’ practice squad instead. Tomasson reports that both the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts have approached Odenigbo about joining their 53-man rosters, but he has rebuffed both teams in their efforts. In response, the Vikings have given him a pretty significant pay bump for a practice squad player. The minimum salary for a practice squad player is $7,600 a week. . .nice work if you can get it. . .but Odenigbo has seen his salary raised to $28,235 a week. Odenigbo has his reasons for staying with Minnesota. “When you’re on the practice squad, you don’t really know if you’re staying with a team, but (the Vikings) told me they look at me as part of the future, so it was cool,’’ Odenigbo said. “They told me, ‘We have plans for you and trust the process and we’ll match their offer.’ So that worked out well.’’ It was quite a surprise when Odenigbo was let go as a part of the final cuts, or at least it was to me. He played very well in the preseason at both defensive tackle and defensive end, but just couldn’t crack one of the deepest defensive line depth charts in the league. It says something about his level of talent and how the Vikings now view him that they’ve told him that they see him as part of the team’s future. With players such as Sheldon Richardson and Tom Johnson set to become free agents after this season and Everson Griffen not getting any younger, perhaps 2019 will be the year that Odenigbo finally makes his big impact in purple. It sounds like he’s interested in making that happen, too...daily norseman
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the journey...is paradise.
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