​The Vikings have made a handful of roster moves on Saturday afternoon, ahead of their Week 3 contest against the Buccaneers in Tampa. Let’s go over what they mean.Punter Johnny Hekker was signed to the 53-man roster. Rookie Brett Thorson had already been ruled out with a hamstring injury, so we knew Hekker was going to make his Vikings debut this week. Giving the veteran punter a roster spot means he didn’t have to take up one of Minnesota’s two practice squad elevation slots.Backup center Nick Samac, already ruled out on Friday with a knee injury, was placed on IR to make room for Hekker. With Michael Jurgens also on IR, Joe Huber would likely be the backup center if Blake Brandel were to go down.This week’s elevations from the practice squad to the gameday roster are OLB Kyle Van Noy and S Tavierre Thomas. It’s Van Noy’s third straight week being elevated, and he’ll play a rotational role for the Vikings once again. Three is the maximum number of elevations for a player in a season, so he’ll need to be signed to the 53-man roster next week.Thomas will be making his season debut. He’s a special teams-only player who saw 370 snaps in that phase for the 2025 Vikings, one behind Bo Richter for the team lead. Thomas has played over 2,000 special teams snaps in his career and is highly regarded in that area, but he did have some high-profile penalties and missed tackles last year.The #Vikings have signed P Johnny Hekker to the 53-man roster and placed C Nick Samac on IR.S Tavierre Thomas and OLB Kyle Van Noy have been elevated to the active roster for tomorrow’s game. 📰: https://t.co/rZ93bX7xlDpic.twitter.com/xzY0VjF92b— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 26, 2026