Warning/Disclaimer/Whatever: This is not a political story. Anyone that attempts to turn the comments section of this story into a political feces-flinging contest will be banned immediately. There’s your warning.

When the Minnesota Vikings used their final pick of the 2019 NFL Draft on Austin Cutting, a long snapper from the Air Force Academy, the questions began about whether or not Cutting would be able to play for the Vikings any time soon. The Department of Defense ended the program that would allow athletes from the Service Academies to defer their mandatory active duty service in order to pursue professional sports careers in 2017, one of several back-and-forth changes to the policy, and it looked like Cutting would have to fulfill his active duty commitment before coming to Minnesota.

Apparently, that’s no longer the case.

The Military Times is reporting that a new directive is coming down that will allow Service Academy athletes to pursue professional sports careers. According to the story, it sounds like it will only apply to athletes that are actually drafted into their respective sport.

“As I recently stated, these student-athletes should be able to defer their military service obligations until they have completed their professional sports careers,” Trump wrote. “Such cadets and midshipmen have a short window of time to take advantage of their athletic talents during which playing professional sports is realistically possible.”

So, this would appear to be good news for Cutting. It certainly sounds as though he’ll be able to head to Training Camp with the Vikings and, should he win the long snapping job from incumbent Kevin McDermott, be able to play the entire season with the purple.

We’ll keep an eye on this story to see how it develops further, but again, this appears to be a positive development for Austin Cutting and the Minnesota Vikings.