Henry Josey, Fomer Missouri Tigers Star, To See NFL Action

The Missouri Tigers may see one of their former players on the field in the NFL this week after the Minnesota Vikings, poached the 2013 MU grad Henry Josey from the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad this week.

Just in time for the Holiday season, Josey gets the gift of an NFL contract, as he will go up to the land of 10,000 lakes and join Matt Asiata and Joe Barnyard on the depth chart. The move comes after Minnesota waived the unproductive Ben Tate last week.

Henry Josey will get another shot in the NFL this week as the Minnesota Vikings signed him to the active roster. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Josey, who went undrafted in the 2014 NFL draft, began his NFL career by signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. But despite finishing second in rushing in the preseason, the Eagles cut Josey, which led him to eventually signing with Jacksonville where he has been on the practice squad for the entire 2014 season.

But it will be the practice squad no more for Josey. He joins a 53-man roster for the Vikings finale against the Chicago Bears. And while the Vikes have been eliminated from playoff contention, one can only hope that Josey gets to see enough action that Minnesota likes what they see and keeps him aboard.

For Minnesota, the move is smart. Josey is as quick as they come, can make guys miss, and he has tremendous scoring capability. In all honest, after the preseason, Josey looked primed for a potentially awesome rookie season. But Philadelphia knew that with LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles in the backfield, there wasn’t enough reason to keep him on.

But Josey may find Minnesota to be a good fit. The Vikings have been giving the red hot Asiata a lot of attention in recent weeks, but that doesn’t mean anything in today’s NFL, where players come and go, play well then fall apart. With Minnesota’s running back situation, the Vikings should be happy to have Josey, and should give him a fair tryout during the upcoming offseason, training camp and preseason.

If that happens, I think Josey could have a great backing role as an NFL running back.

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Minnesota has been searching for its identity at running back after its super star Adrian Peterson was charged with abuse and reckless treatment of a child and has been suspended indefinitely. The overall consensus seems to be that the Vikings will officially part ways with Peterson at the end of the season– which would be the right course of action. Although it hasn’t been confirmed what the team plans to do.

Regardless, Henry Josey is a good pick up for the team. Hopefully his calling there lasts longer than this one final game of the season.

Josey led the Tigers with 1,160 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in his junior season before leaving early to try his hand at the NFL draft. After a severe knee injury sidelined him from the end of the 2011 and entirety of the 2012 season, Josey’s efforts in 2013 were one of the biggest feel good stories in sports as he helped guide the Tigers to an SEC East title and a Cotton Bowl win.

One can only hope to see Josey get to continues his success in the pros for a little while longer.

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