Once cut, these Vikings fought their way to important roles in 2024
The Vikings' roster is littered with players who found a way to stick in the NFL after setbacks. Here are their stories...
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings’ strong start to the 2024 season has been driven by contributions from all over the roster. Whether it’s an interception by Josh Metellus, a clutch third-down reception by Brandon Powell or a punt block by CJ Ham, the list of players who have risen to the challenge to get the Vikings to 2-0 is a long one.
But at some point in many of these players’ careers, they had no idea whether they would actually stick in the NFL.
Here are the stories, in their own words, of eight Vikings who were cut at some point in their career and still found their way to playing significant roles on this year’s team….
Safety, Josh Metellus
Josh Metellus was drafted by the Vikings in the sixth round of the 2020 draft. He was cut out of his first camp. He was eventually brought back as a special teamer and worked his way into being one of the most valuable players on the Vikings’ defense, playing over 1,000 snaps last season.
Matthew Coller: What do you remember about getting cut out of your first camp?
Josh Metellus: You want me to have PTSD, huh? It’s traumatic. To this day, when that time rolls around, I feel for everybody and I feel like I got cut all over again every year. That’s why I approach it the way that I do. I know what it feels like to not have a job.
I had a kid on the way. Girlfriend was about to be fiancé. I got cut, I don’t have a job and it’s COVID. I didn’t have a pro day, I didn’t have a chance to talk to a lot of teams. So it was sort of like, let’s just see where the wind blows. Sticking to what I know, which is working hard and my wife is great support. That’s all we had is each other in COVID, just us going through it together.
It was a depressing time in my life. You work for something so hard and you get that thrill and joy of being drafted and you’re ready to build on it and then you get told by the front office that your work isn’t wanted here anymore. It hurts.
Coller: You weren’t down for very long though. You got picked up on the practice squad and only a few weeks later got elevated to the 53-man roster. Did you take anything away from that short period of time on the practice squad?
Metellus: That was an eye-opening experience… I learned a lot from it. Everything is precious.
Knowing that I was the 54th guy was almost more nerve wracking. Even though I was on the team, I never felt safe. Especially being in a situation where I didn’t have a preseason game and I was expected to play three or four phases on special teams and you know how Zim was, he was tough. He was a defensive coach so I had to see him in the defensive room and I felt like, if I mess up, I’m gone. Every time I would see him walk by, I would wonder if he was coming to take my iPad again. That was my life for my first three years in the league. I was the guy getting saved by special teams coaches. It built up a lot of anxiety and angst and nervousness.
Coller: How did you work your way through that feeling of nervousness that you were going to get released and still focus on doing your job?
Metellus: I had to find a way to work my way through that and figure out a calming way to be able to come to work and worry about the task at hand so when the opportunity did come to stable myself on the team or whether it was somewhere else especially when the new staff came in. I already got cut by the staff that drafted me, what are they about to do with me? I learned a lot from it. That’s why I try to help out every guy that we get coming in in OTAs from the first day they come in here I let them know my journey, my story and here’s how I was affected and here’s what you can do to have a clear, calm, confident mind.
Finding a way to be self-confident was my thing. It’s one thing to get confidence from your peers and coaches but it’s finding confidence within yourself. No matter what happens, you know that when a play comes your way, you’re going to make it. That was big for me. Once I got that self confidence, I never lost it. Every time I step on the field, I think I’m the best safety in the league and that’s what I try to show them.
Coller: Did you have a plan if things hadn’t worked out? You are a pretty educated man, I’m sure things would have worked out for you.
Metellus: Yes and no. Everybody in my immediate family knows that I’m an all-in or nothing kind of guy. I can’t think past playing football. Coaches will say, ‘one day you can coach,’ and I’m like, I can’t even think that far because I’m all in right now. All I can think about is what I can do in this moment and that’s football. I’m going to focus on this as long as possible. It was more of how I was going to find my way back into the league. I could fall back on my degree, I wanted to be a lawyer at one point, sport management major and business. But for the most part, it was ball. Until I couldn’t run, I was going to bet it all on ball. Who am I to throw my jersey away just because I got shot down once?
You’d have to shoot me down 1,000 more times before I would think about [quitting]
Wide receiver, Brandon Powell
Brandon Powell made the Detroit Lions roster as an undrafted free agent in 2018 but was cut by the Lions in his second year and got signed by the Falcons. He caught 12 passes for Atlanta in 2020 and signed with Buffalo in 2021. The Bills cut him out of camp and then Miami signed him to their practice squad for a month before he was released again. Finally Powell stuck with the Rams as a returner in 2021 and receiver/returner in 2022. He won a job in camp for the Vikings in 2023 and caught 29 passes for 324 yards.
Matthew Coller: You have been through the unfortunate experience of getting cut multiple times. Did you view it as teams missing something about your game?
Brandon Powell:
I didn’t really understand it then because I was new into the league. Now I understand that I wasn’t prepared.
Coller: So how did you get turned in the right direction in terms of preparation?
Powell: What really hit me was going into Year 4, I got cut from Buffalo [and Miami] and I was home for like a month. Everybody was saying three years was the span of an NFL player and I was reading books trying to find something else to do [for a career] and that’s when I got the call from L.A. and it really showed me, man, you get another chance and you don’t take another day for granted. Make sure you’re studying and catching punts every day. That’s why you see me out there before practice making sure you are catching punts every day. It makes you focus more, getting cut.
Coller: So you really thought it was over, huh.
Powell: I worked out for the first two weeks and I texted my agent and asked if anybody [was interested] and he didn’t hear anything. I was like, ‘Man, it’s over.’ I stopped working out. I was just on the beach every day reading and trying to find something to do. It was pretty boring and thank god I got the call from L.A.
It was the flight over [to Los Angeles]. Just thinking, I don’t want to get cut again. You learned all these things your first three years, know the playbook, know what to do, take care of your body. I got to L.A. and I started doing that. I focused on football, focused on my body, studied the plays and it paid off.
Coller: When you were reading books, did you land on something that you were going to do if it didn’t work out?
Powell: I really didn’t know. It was like, I didn’t have a clue. Good thing I got signed by the Rams and won the Super Bowl and I started buying real estate and investing into real estate. Now I love buying real estate, fixing up houses, I’m in the process of buying my second house.
The first book I bought was Rich Dad, Poor Dad and he was talking about how he didn’t have any money and he invested the little money he had into a house and fixed it up and sold it and that’s how he started. That’s what I’m trying to do myself. It’s a pretty fun process.
Coller: You must have felt like you were at a crossroads. How has that experience shaped your mentality now?
Powell: You’re not perfect but you never want to mess up on one play, one assignment. You have to take care of your body because if you miss time it gives somebody else an opportunity to take your spot. Be a pro. Know what to do, when to do it and how to do it. That’s how I carry myself every day.
Fullback, CJ Ham
CJ Ham joined the Vikings as an UDFA running back in 2016. He was released and signed to the practice squad and spent the entire ‘16 season there before transitioning to a full-time fullback role and making the team in 2017. He hasn’t looked back since.
Matthew Coller: You first got picked up after having a tryout in rookie minicamp so making the practice squad that first year was quite an accomplishment. How did you view it when you got cut and then were still given a chance to stick around?
Ham: Regardless of the situation of whether it was with the practice squad or another team, I was going to take the opportunity to truly dive in and better myself. I took that practice squad year as a redshirt year. Every practice was my game day. I took it very seriously. Early in your career when you are trying to build habits like that, I think it builds the type of mentality that helps you in your career moving forward. That’s why you see a lot of those types of guys, the Adam Thielens, the Johnny Mundts, have longer careers because of the things that happened to us early in our careers.
Coller: What was the plan if you hadn’t landed on the Vikings’ practice squad or somewhere else?
Ham: I was going to continue to train but if everything didn’t work out, I got my degree in teaching so there’s a good chance that I would have ended up being a teacher or a program coordinator at YMCA or Boys and Girls Club.
Coller: Does getting cut early in your career and how hard you had to battle to stick here still live with you and motivate you?
Ham: 100 percent. I think that’s why I’ve always tried to work the way I work. In this profession, I look at it as: They’re always trying to replace you. You always have to go out there and earn everything you get, show that you have value. Extensions, contracts, numbers — at the end of the day, I know that I have to continue to perform and continue to help this team. Being cut is something that still motivates me today.
Tight end, Johnny Mundt
After going undrafted from Oregon in 2017, the Rams signed Mundt. He was cut and made the practice squad in L.A. He played two games as a rookie and played a depth role as a blocker and special teamer until 2021. In 2022, the Vikings signed him. Mundt has since caught 40 passes and two touchdowns and is currently filling in for Pro Bowler TJ Hockenson as TE1.
Matthew Coller: You came into the league as an undrafted free agent. Did you feel like getting cut and put on the practice squad was still a win or was that still hard on you?
Johnny Mundt: I remember it was a tough day to get that call and come in and [be told] I’m not going to be on the 53 but they communicated that they wanted to develop me on the practice squad and still saw a future with me so I had to take a learning mentality. It was important to be in the meetings and prepare like I was going to be in the game.
Being in your street clothes for home games and being on the couch away games was a tough feeling as a player. That fuels the fire to want to get out there. That was my last year doing that.
Coller: How did you use that time on the practice squad to your advantage?
Mundt: I was able to watch the guys in front of me do it at a high level and go out there and work the same technique against our No. 1 defense. If I was having success doing our techniques against those guys then I thought I was ready to go out there and do it. It just took a little bit more time to get there but I’m here now.
I always thought there was more for me out there than just practice squad. I wasn’t worried week to week because I was going out and making flash plays on our defense in the pass game or having good blocks and getting confirmation from other players like, ‘Hey, Johnny, that was a good pass set right there, that really worked.’ Having open dialogue with the defensive guys and other guys in my [tight end] room built my confidence up and made me who I am today.
Coller: At that point did it run through your mind what you might do if you couldn’t stick in the NFL?
Mundt: My parents run a walnut processing plant in California so that was my safety net but early 20s did not want to be back in Modesto, California. That’s not a vacation destination.
Coller: Lots of guys land on the practice squad but never make it to the point of being a key player on a team like this. What do you think made you stick?
Mundt: The more you can do, the more value you create for yourself. I was able to establish myself as a solid blocker in the league at a young age even though in my mind I was always a pass-catching tight end. Being able to do both is somewhat of a rarity. And special teams, which was my foot in the door.
Quarterback, Nick Mullens
Nick Mullens was signed by the 49ers as an undrafted free agent following a prolific college career at Southern Miss. After a year on the practice squad he made his debut in 2018, winning three games as a starter and producing a 90.8 QB rating. He started eight games in 2020 and one game for the Browns in 2021 and was picked up by the Raiders in 2022. The Vikings traded for him in 2022 camp and he has been the backup QB since then, starting three games last season.
Matthew Coller: As a UDFA quarterback with several experienced guys ahead of you, how did you approach that first camp in San Fran?
Nick Mullens: I was fired up because the 49ers showed me the most interest going through the draft process. I was really hoping I would go there and draft day they gave me an offer. Went through OTAs and camp and I played the last half of the last preseason game and barely got any reps during camp but I was still fired up to be there. I never got the true sensation of ‘you’re being cut,’ because practice squad in my situation was a success. My wife and I just got married and my signing bonus was $3,000 and I used it as a down payment on my apartment.
Coller: How does a practice squad quarterback get noticed? You must have made an impression on them because by the next season you won games and played well for that 49ers team.
Mullens: In that situation, I was like, ‘I’m a practice squad rookie, how can I be valuable to the team?’ There is no rule saying that you can’t be the smartest guy in the room, that’s what I always told myself. I have an iPad just like every other guy. I can learn what’s on the iPad just like everybody else can. That was the mentality that I tried to keep. As simple as drawing the best pictures in the meeting room. Anything that you can do on scout team. Wherever you can help the team. Work hard, know your responsibility and do it well and then when you do get your chances — that was my first year, grinding away on scout team wherever they needed me, it was fun when I played scout-team safety.
Coller: How did you feel like you improved from that first season you spent on the practice squad? I can’t imagine you’re getting much attention from the coaches in terms of development at that point.
Mullens: It was told to me that the biggest jump is from Year 1 to Year 2 and I really honed in on that in the offseason. ‘I know what the NFL is like, I know how to operate, I know I can do it.’ That second preseason I got some playing time and that’s where you can gain some respect from your teammates. ‘Alright, this isn’t just a guy to be around, he’s here to play.’ I got some opportunities in my second year due to injury and you play well and execute and the mindset never changes.
I’ve understood that everybody’s journey is completely different so you try to embrace it. Work hard, treat people right and you never know where it can lead you.
Greg Olsen told us at Tight End U a couple of years ago: ‘Be willing to do what others aren’t.’ Whether that’s coming in on Tuesdays and throwing extra routes, taking care of your body. If you’re not the most talented guy, you have to find some way to make up for it. I’m still like that. Work as hard as you can, let the chips fall where they may.
Coller: That’s some pretty good advice for any profession. Speaking of which, when you were in that first camp not knowing if they were going to keep you around, were you sending out resumes? What was the plan if they didn’t sign you to the practice squad?
Mullens: Dude, I don’t know. The more I play, the less I know about what I want to do after football. I told my wife that going in I just wanted to experience one game week. Did I think I was capable of more than that? Absolutely but I told my wife, ‘Anything after this is gravy.’
My last semester of college I was applying for jobs, on LinkedIn grinding away. Typical sales rep type things.
Coller: So you had no real plan, huh.
Mullens: No. No. I was a business administration major and I would have gone into corporate America. I would have found my way. I would have been OK. It’s an interesting journey, everybody’s situation is different and you have to be thankful and work as hard as you can and play well at the right times.
Coller: You ever think about how many people try to play quarterback and you were able to stick despite not being drafted or even making the team right away? Pretty crazy.
Mullens: Playing well at the right time is important. During COVID, Baker and Case got COVID and if I didn’t play well in that game, who knows where my career would have gone. Timing, a little bit of luck. Make the most of it when you can get it.
Linebacker, Kamu Grugier-Hill
Kamu Grugier-Hill was selected in the sixth round by the New England Patriots out of Eastern Illinois. He was cut by the Pats out of camp and the Eagles picked him up off waivers. He won the Super Bowl with Philly in 2017 and spent time with four teams before joining the Vikings as a key special teamer and depth linebacker.
Coller: It must have been a whirlwind for you that first year. You get drafted, then cut, then you land on a team on the rise in Philadelphia. What was that like?
Grugier-Hill: It was crazy as a small school kid making it to that experience of getting drafted and then going through OTAs and training camp and falling short. It was definitely scary because I didn’t know if I would ever play football again. I didn’t know what was going to be ahead. Sitting here nine years later, I would have never guessed that it was going to be what it has become. It’s crazy how things happen.
Coller: Because you got picked up and right into the action, did you have time to reflect on what it meant to get cut?
Grugier-Hill: Yeah, I told myself that I never want to feel that again. I did everything in my power to truly never leave it up to them or make them feel like they didn’t need me. Always trying to outwork everyone and put myself in good situations.
I’m still remembering that no matter what. I can get cut at any time. Not taking it for granted. It’s a funny thing what we do because we are fortunate enough to play football for a living and there are so many real-world issues and real problems. But I like to think of the locker room as the real world with so many different adversities that you hit and you have to grow and learn through those and learn more about yourself every year.
Safety, Theo Jackson
Theo Jackson was a sixth-round pick of his hometown Tennessee Titans in 2022. He got cut out of camp and re-signed to the practice squad. After Lewis Cine got hurt, the Vikings signed him away from the Titans. He has since become a valuable special teamer and role player on defense.
Matthew Coller: Going from the high of getting drafted by the Titans after your career with the Vols to getting cut had to be difficult. How did you approach it?
Theo Jackson: At first it always sucks to get told that you’re not going to be on the team but I felt that getting on the practice squad was a second chance and go out there and still compete. When you’re on the practice squad you are doing scout team, that means competing against the starters. I used that to go out there and try to get better. Once I got that call to come here. That was like, I have to use this, I have to take advantage of it, I have to go out there and show what I could do.
Coller: How did you use that time on the practice squad to your advantage?
Jackson: It helped me prepare. Once I got up here [to the Vikings active roster], I still had the same routine that I had down there [on practice squad]. I think me doing that, I set myself up. I stayed fresh. I always wanted to be better so I looked at my film and critiqued myself and I stay on that here even though I started it here. I had some good vets there. Kevin Byard when he was there, Amani Hooker. Those two, they really helped me stay sharp every day. I used how they came to work every day.
Coller: What was the plan if things didn’t end up working out? Did that thought run through your mind when you got cut?
Jackson: I talked to my dad about it and everybody who was around me. There was no reason to take a situation that everyone else was seeing as horrible — there was no reason to take it down that route. I would rather go to high route. If it didn’t work out, then that was meant for me. I’m not going to be myself up after being cut. That news hurt already so what can I do to try to prevent that later down the line.
Long snapper, Andrew DePaola
Andrew DePaola went undrafted in 2012 and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was waived a few weeks later but he eventually became Tampa Bay’s long snapper from 2014-2016. He was cut by the Bucs in 2017, played for the Bears in 2018, tore his ACL in 2019 with the Raiders and then was cut by them out of camp in 2019. He was signed and quickly released by the Panthers in 2019 and eventually landed with the Vikings in 2020 and has been the long snapper since then.
Matthew Coller: You went through the cutdown thing so many times, was there one in particular that was especially difficult for you?
Andrew DePaola: When I got cut from Oakland, that was a shocker. The day before they told me that I was the guy. They were like, we’re going to go with you. That was the preseason game where we went up to Canada and played Green Bay in the preseason on the 80-yard field. They told me before the game, ‘you’re the guy, we want you to get all the field goal snaps with the holder and the kicker because we want you to develop that rapport and relationship.’ I took one punt snap and the other snapper took the rest and the next day they were saying, ‘come up with me to my office,’ and telling me that I was getting cut. That one was really surprising because I was like, what changed in 12 hours? Not even a full day?
Not only that but I had to move from California back to Florida so a cross-country move. But it’s like anything in life — and I’ve had this outlook for a long time — it’s not about what happens to you, it’s about how you react to it. I wasn’t going to let getting cut or someone’s opinion of me define who I was as a player.
Coller: How do you keep pushing for jobs after that? It has to be a hit to the ego when you have something like that happen, especially after bouncing around like that, right?
Only if you let it be a hit to the ego. I understood that I could do this job. I had done it for a few years so I knew that I could do it. I just needed that one person to believe in me. Once I got that, I knew I was going to flourish and do well. That’s all I needed. I knew it was out of my control whether I got that shot again but I knew if I did then I was going to do everything I could to be ready for it.
I knew if I got an opportunity that I was going to make something of it. That opportunity came here and when I got my shot, I just decided that I was going to do everything in my power to keep this spot. Being here has helped me flourish as a player. I came here with Zim and the thing I liked about Zim was that he was straight forward. When you weren’t good, he would tell you. When you were good, he wouldn’t tell you. No news was good news. I was able to flourish in that situation because I was used to being coached that way and it helped me become the player I am.
Coller: Did you ever thing about hanging ‘em up at any point?
DePaola: Early on, yes. It had been four years, I hadn’t made a team. It got to that point that I needed to have that conversation: What am I going to do at this point? I remember my family was so supportive, they were like, you’re right there, keep going. That was huge. Funny enough, the next year I made the team. But yeah, there was a time where I was saying, what do I do now? Where do we go from here?
Coller: What was the plan if you hadn’t gotten signed with the Vikings?
DePaola: There was no plan. This was Option A, Option B and Option C.
What a lovely article. Refreshing to read about those personal journeys where success is not inevitably laid on a plate. Inspirational stuff, thank you Matthew.
Great article, great insights!