5 Minnesota Vikings Who Need to Step It Up or Face the Chopping Block

With the 2011 regular season just weeks away, the Minnesota Vikings are inevitably gearing up to trim their roster, and a few players will need to either ramp things up or face the chopping block.

There is only so much room on any one given roster, but more importantly, there is only room for quality players on a team looking to be a dark-horse candidate for a postseason run, so only the bold will survive.

Come take a look at who's facing the ax.

Jaymar Johnson

With one NFL reception in three years and a growing roster filled with competition, Johnson was already a prime candidate for potentially being cut.

Now, his mediocre play and suspect hands are proving to be more than enough to allow the coaching staff to swing the ax.

Johnson will have just about one game to prove them otherwise.

Lorenzo Booker

At one point, head coach Leslie Frazier came out and said he was thinking of making Booker the full-time fullback, but even a press release isn't a guarantee in the NFL.

While Booker has looked good in certain situations, he has also looked bad, particularly with his ability to hold onto the ball.

This job is Booker's to lose, and if he doesn't step things up, he will lose it for sure.

Rhett Bromar

Bomar already has a full plate with Donovan McNabb, Christian Ponder and Joe Webb, but now he is dealing with the his recent run-in with the law.

The run-in actually may work in the team's favor since they have even more reason to cut a guy who just hasn't stepped things up in an effort to earn the No. 3 spot on the roster.

Ryan D'Imperio

D'Imperio is already facing waivers and could be cut altogether by the Vikings in 2011.

D'Imperio was a linebacker in college, but the Vikings experimented with making him a RB/FB, with some success, but zero opportunity.

D'Imperio still has a chance to earn spot on the practice squad, but that has yet to be determined.

Jim Kleinsasser

It's a shame about Kleinsasser, it really is.

After so many years of watching him in a Vikings uniform, this may be the last few weeks we all see him that way.

After drafting Kyle Rudolph, many felt as if it was a sign of things to come for Sasser, and when the news of a double-tight-end set came around with the intention of featuring Rudolph and Visanthe Shiancoe came out—well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure things out.

Kleinsasser was never much of a catching TE, but he excelled at blocking. But the new scheme requires more pass-catching than blocking from the Vikings' TEs, which could mean Kleinsasser is on the way out the door.

But he could still ramp things up and prove to the coaching staff he deserves to stay.