Minnesota Vikings release former Ohio State linebacker Tuf Borland

After a productive five-year collegiate career with the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2016 through 2020, linebacker Tuf Borland signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Minnesota Vikings. Now, the Vikings have released Borland.

The Vikings announced the release of Borland on Monday. That news came along with the news that the team had signed undrafted free agent linebacker William Kwenkeu out of Temple. Minnesota needed a spot on the 90-man roster, and Borland was ultimately the odd man out.

Borland mainly spent time on the Vikings practice squad as a rookie last season, but he was elevated to the active roster for two contests. Kwenkeu comes to the Vikings after a six-year stay at Temple. He is coming off of a career best season, where he totaled 51 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, three sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one defensive touchdown.

At Ohio State, Borland turned into a solid contributor by the time he left for the NFL. His most productive season came in 2018, where he had 67 tackles with nine tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, and one pass defended. In his five-year career with the Buckeyes, Borland totaled 229 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, three passes defended, and two interceptions.

Borland is a former four-star recruit, and he was the 30th-rated linebacker and 305th-rated overall player in the 2016 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. He was also the fifth-best player to come out of the state of Illinois during that cycle.

Now that he has been released by the Vikings, Borland will be looking for another opportunity somewhere in the NFL. He is likely to serve as practice squad depth on the defense wherever he ends up next.