P.J. Hall Fails Physical, Nullifying Trade From Raiders to Vikings

The former second-round pick is headed back to Las Vegas to be released.

So much for the P.J. Hall trade. One day after the Vikings acquired the Raiders defensive tackle, they announced that he failed his physical. So the trade is nullified, and Hall goes back to Las Vegas, where he has officially been released by the team that was planning on cutting him before finding a trade partner at the last minute.

"All trades are pending physical exams by the acquiring team," the Vikings said in their press release. "P.J. Hall failed a physical with Minnesota and reverts back to the Las Vegas Raiders."

On Monday morning, it was reported that the Raiders were waiving Hall, their 2018 second-round draft pick out of Sam Houston State. Recent comments from Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and GM Mike Mayock indicate that the organization was fed up with Hall, who has reported to camp overweight in past years and has a reputation for giving inconsistent effort.

"P.J. Hall, I’m anxious to see where his weight is," Gruden said. "He came in overweight last year and at that position that can’t happen." 

“P.J.’s got a challenge,” Mayock said. “We have a new defensive line coach coming in, and trust me, Rod Marinelli doesn’t put up with anything but 100% hustle. Nothing but.”

Before Hall was officially cut, Mayock and Rick Spielman worked out a trade that would send him to Minnesota, pending a physical. The Vikings would send the Raiders a conditional 2021 seventh-round pick that would only go to Las Vegas if Hall spent six of more games on the Vikings' active roster this year.

Instead, it's all for naught after Hall failed his physical. He's headed back to the Raiders, who have cut him like they were planning on doing before the trade was finalized.

It'll be interesting to see if the Vikings continue to look outside of their organization for defensive tackle depth in the wake of Michael Pierce opting out for the season. With Armon Watts being added to the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Tuesday, Minnesota's DT group gets even weaker for the time being.

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