Safeties in numbers: Vikings place four on IR

The Vikings placed four players, all significant contributors, including two safeties, on injured reserve and signed four players to the active roster to replace them.

The Vikings have placed four players on season-ending injured reserve and signed four more to replace them on the active roster.

Safeties Husain Abdullah (concussion) and Tyrell Johnson (hamstring), wide receiver Michael Jenkins (knee) and long snapper Cullen Loeffler (back) were all placed on injured reserve. Abdullah has missed the last two games after suffering his second concussion of the season and the other three were all hurt during Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Abdullah started nine games and had 65 tackles, three for a loss, one sack, one interception and three passes defensed. Johnson started three games and played in 11, making 30 tackles. Jenkins started seven of the 11 games this year, finishing with 36 catches for 441 yards and a team-leading three touchdown receptions.

In their places, the Vikings signed safeties Jarrad Page and Andrew Sendejo, receiver Stephen Burton and long snapper Matt Katula.

The most experienced among the additions is Page, who played four seasons, from 2006-09, with the Kansas City Chiefs before joining the New England Patriots in 2010 and Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year. With the Chiefs, Page played in 53 games, making 39 starts, including every game in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

With the Patriots last year, he played in 10 games, making one start. He played in six games, making five starts, with the Eagles this year.

Page has 247 tackles and 12 interceptions in his six-year career.

Sendejo, another safety, played in two games last year with the Dallas Cowboys and spent time with the New York Jets earlier this year. He has one career tackle.

Like Page, Katula has six years of NFL experience, long snapping for the Baltimore Ravens for his first five seasons (2005-09) before spending eight games with the New England Patriots last year.

Burton was a seventh-round draft choice of the Vikings this year and spent the first seven weeks of the season on the practice squad. He was elevated to the 53-man roster before the Vikings' Oct. 30 game against the Carolina Panthers and played in that game but was inactive for the next two. He was released last week when the Vikings needed to promote TE Allen Reisner to the active roster following an injury to Kyle Rudolph.

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