If I really wanted to generate argument, I'd color-code it by the amount of play I expect from each person at each position, but I won't do that, so you can instead argue about the players that got cut. That's much more productive (maybe?) anyway.

Offensive Depth Chart QB Teddy Bridgewater Shaun Hill HB Adrian Peterson Jerick McKinnon Matt Asiata FB WR1 Charles Johnson Cordarrelle Patterson WR2 Mike Wallace Adam Thielen WR3 Jarius Wright Stefon Diggs TE Kyle Rudolph Rhett Ellison MyCole Pruitt Chase Ford LT Matt Kalil David Yankey LG Brandon Fusco C John Sullivan Zac Kerin RG Mike Harris Joe Berger RT T.J. Clemmings Austin Shepherd Defensive Depth Chart RDE Everson Griffen Danielle Hunter Justin Trattou UT Sharrif Floyd Tom Johnson NT Linval Joseph Shamar Stephen LDE Brian Robison Scott Crichton SLB Anthony Barr Gerald Hodges MLB Eric Kendricks Audie Cole WLB Chad Greenway Brian Peters Brandon Watts LCB Terence Newman Captain Munnerlyn Trae Waynes Josh Thomas SS Harrison Smith Andrew Sendejo FS Robert Blanton Antone Exum Jr. RCB Xavier Rhodes Jabari Price Marcus Sherels *SCB Captain Munnerlyn Jabari Price Marcus Sherels Specialists P Jeff Locke K Blair Walsh LS Kevin McDermott PR Marcus Sherels KR Cordarrelle Patterson

You'll notice a few things about this, and the first thing might be that there are 54 names on the roster, not 53. Honestly, if the first thing you noticed was the count, I'm a little worried that you are a bit more invested in detail than I would be. But it's the first thing I'm going to mention, so that's what we're talking about.

Jabari Price has a two-game suspension, so he won't count against the roster until Week 3, so the Vikings can open with 54 people but really only 53. The same will essentially be true for Josh Robinson, who will likely be PUP'd to begin the season. When Price comes back, I would expect Josh Thomas to be cut. When Robinson comes back, it could be a player like Peters (straight to the practice squad!).

The next (or first) thing you notice would be a lack of a fullback. I'm not happy with Zach Line's performance and it doesn't seem like the Vikings are either. Blake Renaud is dealing with his first time on the offensive side of the ball, as he was a linebacker at Boise State. He could go the Ryan D'Imperio route and spend his first year on the practice squad as he picks things up. Either way, he hasn't been playing very well either.

Mike Zimmer has already said that a fullback isn't "critical" to the roster, but that he "assumes" he'll have three quarterbacks on the roster. Those are soft signals at best, but I think the Vikings may be transitioning away from the fullback for the first time that I can remember. I know, I cut the third quarterback, too.

It will also be the first time in Norv Turner's career that he won't have a fullback, as he's been an offensive coordinator or head coach of a fullback in every year of his tenure going back to his time with the Dallas Cowboys (and what a roster of fullbacks he's seen—Daryl Johnston, Larry Centers, Lorenzo Neal and Mike Tolbert are among the names he's coached), and sometimes he's carried two (notably, Jacob Hester and Mike Tolbert, though he's had two elsewhere—like in San Francisco with Moran Norris and Chris Hetherington and in Washington with Mike Sellers and Larry Centers).

Going back to 2007, Turner has always had some combination of five total tight ends and fullbacks—either three tight ends and two fullbacks or more commonly four tight ends and one fullback. Last year it was three/two because the Vikings, if you'll remember... carried two fullbacks. In 2014.

Getting rid of the fullback position would be new for Norv, but times change—especially if the fullback is bad. This frees up the Vikings to carry four tight ends (thus saving Chase Ford) as well as six receivers (saving... Adam Thielen, probably?). The Viking carried six receivers on opening day last year (remember Rodney Smith?), so it's not so much "saving space for" as much as "creating wiggle room for" but that's how I saw it.

I didn't like what I had to do with the offensive tackles. I ended up going with Austin Shepherd and putting Tyrus Thompson on the practice squad, but I didn't like it. Below is what I originally wrote when I put Thompson in instead of Shepherd:

Objectively, I think Austin Shepherd is the best backup tackle. I also think he's the most likely to survive waivers and make the practice squad, especially over David Yankey. I felt I had to keep Yankey because I wanted three backup tackles—two on the roster and one on the practice squad. I debated back and forth with Shepherd and Thompson, but went with Thompson because I felt there was no one with experience on the left side of the line, unless you count Yankey's junior year of college. Thompson, if you include college experience, has much more time at left tackle.

But screw it. Yankey has left-sided footwork, so he'll do. Thompson is on the practice squad.

The Vikings are really high on Zac Kerin, so he was easy to keep in, and Berger was a no-brainer.

I got rid of Heinicke because he's on the practice squad, so the Vikings will functionally have three quarterbacks. If they have to go to the third quarterback in game, they are screwed anyway, so I don't mind. I guess it would have to be Jerick McKinnon (or Jarius Wright, which was the plan last year, I suppose—but I said McKinnon because an option offense would be fun to watch even if not implementable in the middle of a game).

That let me keep five defensive ends (and it's obvious who they are) and I got rid of the backup tackles as well as sixth-round draft pick B.J. Dubose, who could never move up the rotation.

I made Eric Kendricks the starter instead of Audie Cole, if only because Zimmer kept stressing the importance of pass protection and that Kendricks has more upside. Audie Cole is doing very well at linebacker, and I've stated before that my ideal linebacker starters are with Barr at Sam linebacker, Cole at Mike linebacker and Kendricks at Will linebacker, but that's not happening.

I kept seven linebackers because of their importance to special teams, and because Brandon Watts is playing better now than before. I had to include Watts if I was getting rid of Mauti because of how well Mauti has done on special teams. Watts also has much more upside. I kept Brian Peters because of his versatility and where he is on the depth chart (seemingly). If pushed, I could be convinced to lose Peters for Mauti. Peters is practice-squad eligible.

I could also be convinced to lose Peters for Heinicke or a fullback, I suppose. Consider Peters the 53rd man (though not literally, as he was not the person I added back in when I accidentally found out I only had 52 people on the team).

The safeties were tough. Anthony Harris makes it to the practice squad and he can be a contributor as soon as he bulks up (how many safeties do you know that weighed 183 at the combine? None since 2005, and only one other safety since then weighed below 190, Ahmad Black—who has 3.5 inches shorter and was cut in his first year anyway). Shaun Prater, #hawkeyenation loved you but it wasn't enough. C'est La Vie.

I still think Captain Munnerlyn is the "starter" at nickel because despite his odd game disappearances in the preseason, Mike Zimmer does like his progress and he's been taking all the practice reps with the ones. I think, unless there's injury, we won't see much of Trae Waynes this year. They even told Munnerlyn that he's first-team nickel (so far) in practices. I think they just wanted to get Waynes a lot of reps, which he got.

The Vikings (and the NFL) love to have backup cornerbacks, and Josh Thomas is not practice squad-eligible, even under the rule that grants additional eligibility to two players. Zimmer likes him and Van Dyke, and I think he has performed better.

Marcus Sherels remains the punt returner. Right now, he makes better decisions and is better at securing the ball. Who knows, maybe he's the guy to leave when Robinson comes back and Diggs is a much more confident punt return gamble. Sherels isn't an average punt returner, he's a top-three returner. He also plays critical roles as a gunner (something Diggs doesn't do) and in kickoff coverage (I don't recall seeing Diggs here, either).

Here's a potential practice squad:

Practice Squad Tom Farniok Isame Faciane Anthony Harris DeMarcus Van Dyke Tyrus Thompson Edmond Robinson Taylor Heinicke Davaris Daniels Dominique Williams B.J. Dubose Babatunde Aiyegbusi

Aiyegbusi is italicized because his inclusion is dependent upon the NFL granting the international exemption to him. I believe this circumstance is different than the International Practice Squad Program that the Lions tried (and failed) to get kicker Havard Rugland [kickalicious] under because the IPSP is meant for NFL Europe, which of course no longer exists. Also, those players were assigned to teams, not requested by them.

But the international exemption (which, in fairness to the opposition argument, I cannot find in the rules) was mentioned a lot when the NFL announced the expansion of rosters from eight to ten. If not, the Vikings may have simply asked the NFL for pre-approval, something the Lions didn't do with Rugland, and perhaps would have if they had known (the article mentions Jarryd Hayne, who is currently lighting it up for the 49ers).

DeMarcus Van Dyke is bolded because he is eligible for one of the two expanded roster spots, with the special additional rules regarding eligibility. If you want, you may get rid of Tyrus Thompson and add either Blake Renaud, Zach Line (eligible under the expanded rules) or Michael Mauti (ditto). Because the Vikings have three offensive linemen on the practice squad, it is in fact extremely likely that I am very wrong.

I included Dubose instead of Anunoby or Mackey, even though I think the two of them ended up flashing more in the end than Dubose because of teams' preferences to retain draft picks. If that isn't a factor, I'd likely give it to Mackey because defensive ends are a bit more valuable than nose tackles.

I like having a linebacker with Edmond Robinson's raw skills, so he's on the practice squad. If Peters gets cut, I still may give it to Robinson (even though I mentioned Peters as a potential practice-squad transition above if he gets cut for Josh Robinson) because of Robinson's upside. After all, the practice squad is for development.

As you can tell, I'm cutting it all very fast and loose.

A final note: I have never seen a 53-man roster prediction be correct. Mostly I've checked the roster predictions for the Vikings but over the past several years and dozens of beat writers and bloggers, all of them have gotten it wrong. A lot of this is due to the inherent unpredictability of a team's roster construction; no one had the Vikings with two fullbacks last year (and if they did, I'd be surprised if they had both Chris Crocker and Rodney Smith).

I do not recall anyone predicting eight linebackers in 2013. I'm not sure that people had both Matt Asiata and Allen Reisner in 2012, and if they did, the probably did not cut Sage Rosenfels and keep Tyrone McKenzie.

One other note: one of the reasons the 53-man roster on cutdown day (this year, September 5th) is different from opening day (September 10) is because players not on the roster will be added to it. Not on the roster on cutdown day, but on opening day were both Marqueis Gray and starting right guard Mike Harris . On the roster on cutdown day, but not opening day were Austin Wentworth (retired) and Larry Dean.

So yea. Chill on these things and have fun, I guess.