Vikings elevate Luke Stocker to active roster

That was fast

With Ben Ellefson having been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, the Minnesota Vikings needed to add another tight end to their active roster, and they did so on Saturday with a slightly surprising move.

The Vikings announced that they have elevated Luke Stocker to the active roster from the practice squad for Sunday’s game.

Stocker was added to the practice squad earlier this week, and is now on the active roster (at least for this week) after only a few days of practice. Head coach Mike Zimmer did say that Stocker has picked up the playbook fairly quickly and he’ll likely be called upon to do more blocking than anything else, much like Ellefson does. Still, it is a bit of a surprise that Stocker is getting the call this early.

The team did protect tight end Brandon Dillon from being signed off of their practice squad by other NFL teams earlier in the week, but have chosen Stocker to fill the void left by Ellefson instead.

In the early portion of this season, Ellefson has done a really solid job for the Vikings as their primary blocking tight end. Here’s hoping that Stocker can have an equal amount of success tomorrow afternoon in Carolina.