Former Cougar Tyler Batty to miss 2026 season with torn ACL
Aug 31, 2026, 7:48 PM | Updated: Sep 1, 2026, 12:29 pm
Former BYU Cougar and current Minnesota Viking linebacker Tyler Batty will miss the 2026 season with a torn ACL. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Second-year Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Tyler Batty will miss the 2026 NFL season after tearing his ACL, the team announced. Batty has been placed on injured reserve.
Batty suffered the knee injury during the Vikings’ preseason finale against the Denver Broncos on Friday. Netflix insider Tom Pelissero first reported the injury’s severity Saturday.
Vikings OLB Tyler Batty suffered a torn ACL in Friday’s preseason finale and is going on injured reserve, per sources.
Batty was slated to be a key rotational player. Instead, he’s out for the season.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 30, 2026
The timing is cruel with the 2026 regular season just days away.
Batty, a former BYU standout from Payson, Utah, had turned heads throughout training camp and was expected to be one of Minnesota’s primary rotational edge rushers behind starters Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner.
Instead, a team already thin at the position now enters the regular season with just four outside linebackers on its roster.
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Who is Tyler Batty?
Batty attended Payson High School, where he earned first-team all-region and all-valley honors, before joining BYU’s football program in 2020.
He made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2021, leading the Cougars with 3.5 sacks while totaling 43 tackles.
His production only grew from there.
As a co-captain in 2022, Batty was named a Wuerffel Trophy and Ted Hendricks Award candidate.
In BYU’s inaugural Big 12 season in 2023, he led the team in tackles for loss, sacks and quarterback hurries, earning All-Big 12 second-team honors.
By his senior year, he was a first-team All-Big 12 selection and a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honorable mention.
Batty finished his college career with 224 tackles (122 solo), 33.5 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions across four seasons.
Indeed, Vikings edge rusher Tyler Batty tore his ACL and is headed to season-ending IR. A brutal one for a dude who had a really good camp. Adds more attention to edge rusher depth situation.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) August 30, 2026
He signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and made his NFL debut in Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He appeared in 12 games as a rookie, recording 12 tackles — two for loss — primarily on special teams.
The focus now shifts to recovery. Batty, who built his BYU career on steady, year-over-year improvement, will spend the 2026 season rehabilitating with an eye toward returning in 2027.
Parts of this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team.
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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and the Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball here. Find Brian on X, Instagram, and BlueSky at @bpreece24.
