The Vikings were active in adding to their front seven on Monday, but one veteran member of their D-line will not be in place for 2024. Dean Lowry is being released, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. In a separate move, Minnesota has agreed to a deal with kicker John Parker Romo, per Pelissero. 
The Lowy release – which the team has made official – means his Minnesota tenure will be limited to one season. The 29-year-old spent his first seven years of his career in Green Bay before making the intra-divisional move to the Vikings. Lowry started four games in 2023, but his campaign was cut short due to a pectoral injury.
The former fourth-rounder landed on IR in November, marking another disappointing development on the health front. Lowry had not previously missed a game from 2017-21. His base salary ($3.7MM) would have become guaranteed on March 16, so it comes as little surprise Minnesota will move on now. This cut will create just over $2MM in cap space while generating a dead money charge of $2.4MM.
The Vikings have relied on Greg Joseph in the kicking game for the past three seasons. He is a pending free agent, though, and the Romo addition means a competition could be in the cards or Joseph could be playing elsewhere in 2024. The latter had a strong debut Minnesota season in 2021 with a success rate of 86.8% on field goals. That figure dropped to 78.8% the following year before rebounding to 80% in 2023.
If the Vikings turn to Romo as their kicker, he would be in line for his first regular season NFL action. The 26-year-old has spent time with the Lions, Saints and Bears but he has not been able to win a training camp battle. Romo played for the XFL’s San Antonio Brahmas in 2023, going 17-for-19 on field goals. He was named to the All-XFL team, and he will look to parlay that into an NFL gig in Minnesota.