EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice will be ineligible to play in the first six games of the regular season.
Rice was placed on the reserve physically unable to perform list Tuesday, the NFL's deadline for reducing rosters to 75 players. Players on reserve don't count toward the total.
Rice had hip surgery last week and is expected to need at least two months of recovery, so the move was not a surprise. After Minnesota's sixth game, at Green Bay on Oct. 24, the team will have three more weeks to decide whether to activate Rice or end his season by putting him on injured reserve.
The Vikings also waived wide receiver Marko Mitchell and offensive tackle Bill Noethlich and placed linebacker J Leman on injured reserve, after he cleared waivers, to get to the 75-man limit. Noethlich played at Southwest Minnesota State.
The big cutdown comes Saturday, when rosters must trimmed to 53 players.
