ELF: 2024 Vienna Vikings – A Roster Breakdown

By Michael Voitek

The Vienna Vikings finished the 2023 European League of Football regular season with a perfect record but faltered in the playoffs with a second-round loss to the Stuttgart Surge. Coach Chris Calaycay is back and is looking for revenge after that early exit in the playoffs last year.

Let’s breakdown the team he has around him.

Offense

Quarterback

Last year, the Vikings had Chris Helbig under center who had a fine year but, in my opinion, he was one of the weaker points of their whole team. This year, the Austrian team went a new direction and signed Ben Holmes. Holmes has been playing professionally for the last 4 years and was even the 4^th overall selection in the USFL draft to the New Jersey Generals in 2022. After stints in the USFL and CFL, Holmes has brought his talents to the ELF and looks like a good piece for this Vikings team.

Running Back

The team brings back E-import Karri Parjanen, who was 7^th in the league in rushing yards last year with no fumbles lost, but they lost Florian Wegan. The 1-2 punch really propelled this team last year, so Parjanen will really need to carry a heavy load for this Vikings team.

Wide Receiver

At WR, this team brings back stud players Jordan Bouah and Weston Carr who combined for 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. It will be interesting if they can keep up chemistry with a new quarterback under center, but I don’t have too many doubts.

Be on the lookout for Michael Schachermayr to take a step forward this year as a homegrown for the Vikings

Tight End

Markus Schaberl may be a tight end on the rise in the ELF. Schaberl played for the Raiders Tirol the last two years and was an NFL international combine invitee in 2020.

Offensive Line

The Vikings bring back 1^st team All-Star Aleksander Milanovic and E-import Matthew Daltrey on the offensive line.

The Vikings then added veteran E-import Tony Koskinen who last played in the ELF for the Raiders Tirol in 2022. This line will need to work hard to keep holes open now that Florian Wegan is gone, but with the additions and resignings I think they’ll look pretty good this year.

Defense

Defensive line

The Vikings were the second-best defense in the league last year based on yards given up and look to keep up momentum into 2024.

I’m a little surprised the Vikings didn’t use an A-import on the defensive line. They struggled to gain sacks last year, but we’ll see when I get to linebackers how they fixed this. They did bring back Oskar Kranich who had four sacks last year and signed Leo Misangukumini who went to the NFL IPP twice.

Linebacker

The Vikings signed one of their biggest players on defense in Jan-Phillip Bombek.

Bombek was a second team All-Star for the Hamburg Sea Devils last year and immediately adds a pass rush for this team, having 9.5 last year. A player that should make an impact is Martin Wallensteiner, who led the entire Austrian football League in tackles last season.

The Vikings also re-signed a big-time veteran in Dustin Illetschko who should continue to add great experience to this team.

Defensive back

In the defensive backfield, the Vikings bring back dynamic all-around threat Exavier Edwards.

Weapon X will be joined by fellow American Hunter Nichols. Nichols played D-I ball at University of San Diego and when paired with Exavier they make a deadly combo.

A player that jumps out at you when you look at physical dimensions and speed is Elmeri Laalo. Laalo, a Finnish E-import, is 6’4 210 pounds and runs a scary 4.56 40 yard dash. I mean, those are some wild numbers for a corner. I think this is one of the scarier secondaries in the league.

Wrapping up

I like what the Vikings did this offseason. They added skill players at a lot of positions and if they lost someone they made up for it with great signings. I do wonder how Ben Holmes performs over here and how Karri plays without Florian Wegan by his side, but otherwise the Vikings have a very solid squad heading into 2024.

Offseason grade: A –