Former Clemson offensive tackle Tristan Leigh is back on the market after the Minnesota Vikings waived the rookie on Sunday morning, according to NFL Insider Jordan Schultz.
Leigh, who went undrafted in April before signing with Minnesota as a UDFA after the 2026 NFL Draft, had a preseason that showed both the promise and the rough edges that come with a young lineman trying to stick. The Vikings gave him looks at both left tackle and right tackle, and he logged more than 100 snaps at each spot during the preseason.
His best work came in Minnesota’s 13-10 preseason Week 1 win over the New York Giants. Leigh earned an 81.2 pass block grade in that game and did not allow a pressure over 14 snaps at left tackle.
Things were tougher after that. The Vikings shifted him to right tackle in a 13-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, and he gave up three pressures, two quarterback hurries and one sack across 46 snaps. Minnesota moved him back to the left side for the preseason finale against the Denver Broncos, but he still allowed two pressures and two hurries in 47 offensive snaps.
Leigh’s path to the NFL started long before his time in Minnesota. He spent five seasons at Clemson after arriving as a five-star recruit, ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 14 player nationally, the No. 4 offensive tackle and the No. 1 recruit in Virginia.
For his first two seasons, he mostly worked behind now-Chicago Bears offensive lineman Jordan McFadden and played in only seven games across the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He finally took over as Clemson’s starting left tackle in 2023.
That first start, a loss to Duke, was a rough one. The 6-foot-5, 312-pound lineman allowed two sacks and three pressures. After that, though, he settled in and gave up just one sack the rest of the season.
His 2024 season had its highs and lows. Leigh played solidly through the first five weeks, then hit a rough stretch against Wake Forest, Virginia and Louisville, where he allowed 10 pressures, seven hurries and two sacks combined.
He also played a career-high 102 snaps against Louisville. Later in the year, he looked better against Virginia Tech and South Carolina, but the season ended poorly with eight pressures, four hurries, three quarterback hits and one sack across the ACC Championship and College Football Playoff games.
After that season, Leigh considered entering the 2025 NFL Draft, but he chose to return for his fifth and final year at Clemson.
That decision didn’t lead to the finish he wanted. Clemson went 7-6, its worst record since 2010, after starting the year ranked No.
- Leigh played in just 10 games because of a nagging ankle injury that kept him out against Troy, Georgia Tech, SMU and most of the Boston College game.
Now he’ll wait for another NFL opportunity. He’s not the only former Clemson player on the move, either, as former Tigers running back Phil Mafah was also waived Sunday by the Dallas Cowboys.
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