The Minnesota Vikings changed the shape of their practice squad on Wednesday by signing outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy and running back DeeJay Dallas, while bringing back quarterback Max Brosmer and receiver Dillon Bell. Minnesota waived center Gavin Gerhardt, guard Joshua Gray, offensive lineman Tristan Leigh and outside linebacker Cam’Ron Stewart from the group in corresponding moves.
The headline name is Van Noy, a 35-year-old, two-time Super Bowl champion who spent the past three seasons with Baltimore. But the more useful reading is broader than one veteran reunion. Minnesota has used four practice-squad places to combine immediately familiar NFL experience with players who already know its current program. That is a reserve-capacity decision, not a declaration that any one signing owns a game-day role.
Confirmed facts: four additions, four different profiles
The Vikings’ official announcement says Van Noy started 29 of 45 regular-season games for Baltimore from 2023 through 2025. He recorded 23.5 sacks and 39 quarterback hits in that span, with career highs of 12.5 sacks and 21 hits in 2024. Across 12 NFL seasons, Minnesota credits him with 57 sacks, 14 forced fumbles, four interceptions and three defensive touchdowns.
Van Noy also has direct history with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. They worked together with New England and again in Miami. That connection can reduce the amount of unfamiliarity in meetings and terminology, but it does not establish Van Noy’s snap count, activation status or place in the rotation. Minnesota lists Andrew Van Ginkel, Dallas Turner, Bo Richter and Chaz Chambliss as the outside linebackers on its 53-man roster. The club also noted that Tyler Batty went to season-ending injured reserve on Sunday.
Dallas provides a different type of experience. The Vikings say the 27-year-old has appeared in 84 career games. Their announcement lists 538 rushing yards, 407 receiving yards and 89 kickoff returns at an average of 25.3 yards, including one touchdown. Those totals make his multi-phase background relevant, while leaving his exact assignment unsettled.
Brosmer and Bell represent continuity rather than imported experience. Both spent the offseason and training camp with Minnesota. Brosmer started two games last season and split them, according to the team. Bell joined after the 2026 draft and contributed in both the run and pass games during the preseason. The NFL’s September 2 news roundup independently recorded all four signings and the four corresponding departures.
Analysis: two clocks on one practice squad
The transaction creates two clocks inside the same reserve group. Van Noy and Dallas are veteran options whose value is tied to readiness, role familiarity and the possibility of answering a short-term need. Brosmer and Bell are continuity options whose value includes retained knowledge from the summer and further development within Minnesota’s systems. Treating all four simply as backups misses why the combination matters.
That distinction is especially important with Van Noy. His production history gives Minnesota evidence that he has handled an NFL pass-rush role, and his prior work with Flores supplies scheme context. Neither fact guarantees that past production will transfer or that he will dress for a particular game. The practice-squad designation preserves flexibility: Minnesota can evaluate how he fits its current defense before game-day usage supplies the real answer.
The four corresponding waivers reveal the cost of that flexibility. A practice squad is not passive storage; every addition removes another developmental or depth option. Minnesota exchanged three offensive linemen and one outside linebacker for an outside linebacker, a running back, a quarterback and a receiver. In positional terms, the group became less concentrated along the offensive line and more distributed across roles that touch defense, offense and special teams.
This is the central roster calculation. Veteran reserve players can narrow the gap between a sudden need and a credible response, while returning younger players can preserve developmental work already invested during the offseason. The benefit is breadth. The tradeoff is that Minnesota has fewer retained offensive-line options from the previous version of the squad. That is an observable allocation choice, not proof that one position is secure or another is in trouble.
What will show whether the move worked
Three forms of evidence should guide the evaluation. First is activation: which of the four players, if any, reaches a game-day roster and under what circumstances. Second is role: whether Van Noy is used as a situational rusher, Dallas contributes on special teams, or Brosmer and Bell continue primarily as developmental depth. Third is durability of the decision: whether the group remains intact after the opening-week roster churn.
Until those facts arrive, the disciplined conclusion is modest. Minnesota has not announced a new defensive hierarchy or promised an immediate role to a decorated veteran. It has built a practice squad with two types of insurance: experienced players who may shorten the response time to a need, and returning players who keep part of the summer’s development inside the building. Van Noy’s name raises the profile of the move. The balance of those two clocks explains its football value.
Sources: Minnesota Vikings official roster announcement and practice-squad update; NFL official September 2 news roundup.
Featured image: Interior seating and Minnesota Vikings branding at U.S. Bank Stadium. Courtesy photo by Joe Szurszewski for USDAgov via Wikimedia Commons. License: Public domain, U.S. Department of Agriculture work. Modifications: cropped from 6,673 × 4,628 pixels to a 6,672 × 3,753-pixel 16:9 frame, then resized to 2,400 × 1,350 pixels.
