Vikings 90-man roster player profile: OLB Junior Aho

Welcome to the beginning of our 2023 season preview content!

Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at each player on the roster in-depth with backgrounds and how they currently project forward on the Minnesota Vikings roster.

What is the best-case scenario? What is the worst-case scenario? What should we expect from them during the preseason and beyond? We will break all of that down here.

As a staff, all of us at Vikings Wire ranked the entire 90-man roster 1-90 and will be releasing player profiles in reverse order.

Background

Name: Junior Aho

Rank: 80

Height: 6‘4″

Weight: 272

Experience: Rookie

College: SMU

Stats (At SMU): 43 tackles, 5.0 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles

Votes:

Tyler Forness: 80

Kevin Fielder: 78

Judd Zulgad: 81

Saivion Mixson: 80

Average: 79.75

Best case scenario

Due to Aho not counting toward the 53-man roster, it’s a positive for the Vikings. They will be able to bring him along without having to worry about losing him or putting him on the practice squad.

Coming from France where he has played for the national team, Aho has the traits you love to see from a player at his position. With a 9.37 Relative Athletic Score, he fits the explosiveness metrics that the Vikings look for.

Junior Aho is a DT prospect in the 2023 draft class. He scored a 9.37 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 103 out of 1623 DT from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/Ac6p8dKYC1 pic.twitter.com/9IE5eqlJPS

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 23, 2023

Worst case scenario

He doesn’t count towards the roster which is a good thing, but not developing into a real NFL player in any sense would be a failure. The Vikings selected Moritz Bohringer in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL draft, but never amounted to anything once he joined the Vikings. If that ends up being the case here, it’s a disappointment.

What to expect in 2023

There isn’t a whole lot to expect from Aho this year. He did play for SMU last season in the AAC, but being in the International Pathway Program, expectations won’t be very high for him. The goal should be to play well enough in practice and the preseason to warrant keeping him for next year when he does count toward the active roster. There are traits to develop and the Vikings are a great organization to do just that.