CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Though the Minnesota Vikings will have Xavier Rhodes active for the first time this year on Sunday, their 2015 first-round pick (cornerback Trae Waynes) will start at cornerback. Their 2016 first-round pick, on the other hand, will not be active.
The Vikings deactivated receiver Laquon Treadwell for Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers, putting Jarius Wright on their 46-man active roster for the first time this season. Wright, who lost his job in the Vikings' top three-receiver set to Adam Thielen, had expressed some frustration with his role, but it will be him, not Treadwell, who suits up on Sunday.
The 23rd overall pick in the 2016 draft has played only two snaps this season, and struggled to differentiate himself in training camp. He'll head into October still looking for his first meaningful action in a NFL game.
Waynes, who made a game-sealing interception last Sunday against Green Bay after committing a pair of penalties earlier in the game, will be asked to help slow down the league's top offense from a year ago. Rhodes, who injured his right knee while stretching before the Vikings' season opener against Tennessee, said this week he was feeling better each day, but the Vikings apparently aren't ready to take chances with his health yet.
Matt Asiata will start at running back, the team announced, after coach Mike Zimmer said this week that Jerick McKinnon would start. Both McKinnon and Asiata figure to play plenty, so the starting designation for Asiata might have more to do with the personnel package the Vikings plan to use to start the game.
Here is the Vikings' full list of inactives on Sunday:
WR Laquon Treadwell