Vikings Release TE John Carlson
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) – The Minnesota Vikings announced Wednesday they've released tight end John Carlson.
Carlson, a Litchfield, Minn. native, spent two seasons with the Vikings that were filled with injuries. In those two seasons, he appeared in 27 games with 14 starts.
He made 40 catches for 387 yards and one touchdown. He spent the first four years of his NFL career with the Seahawks before signing with the Vikings in March 2012.
Carlson was a multi-sport star at Litchfield High School, a small town about 65 miles west of the Twin Cities, and a standout at Notre Dame. He was drafted in the second round in 2008 by Seattle. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 248 pounds, Carlson had the ideal size for the position and showed he could be productive when healthy, totaling 1,201 yards and 12 touchdowns over his first two years in the NFL with the Seahawks.
He tore the labrum in his left shoulder in 2011, though, and missed that entire season. The Vikings took a risk by signing Carlson in free agency to a contract with more than $9 million guaranteed following that whole year off. Right away in his first training camp with his home-state team he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
Carlson was scheduled to make $3 million in 2014. The Vikings now have three tight ends remaining on their roster: Kyle Rudolph, Rhett Ellison and Chase Ford.
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