Training Camp Update – Vikings Joint Practices

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Injury Updates:

  • Ward – In concussion protocol (but was seen at practice in good spirits)
  • Hall – Has a stinger. Will miss a little bit of time
  • McLeod – Out of practice. Will be back soon
  • Cooper and Njoku are “sore” according to Stefanski. I would think they will be back early next week.
  • Hurst – Went in with trainers and we do not have an update. 

Returned from Injury:

  • Za’Darius Smith – Was back to practice
  • D’Onta Foreman – Has been back
  • Shelby Harris – Has been back

On PUP or still out:

  • Newsome
  • Bell 
  • Chubb
  • Hines
  • Fields
  • Hicks
  • Dunn
  • Wills
  • Conklin
  • Tomlinson 

I will say this about the injuries. We need to see Wills or Conklin back next week. Preferably Jed, so we can somewhat fix the issue of the offensive line. It feels like we have heard he is close for a few weeks now. I would like to see Hines come off the PUP next week as well. 

The reporting of the joint practices with the Vikings has been sporadic depending on the source. From what I can gather, the defense dominated. Myles got to the QB whenever he wanted and one of the best tackles in the league, Christain Darrisaw, said he “one-of-one and has not seen anything like him before.” With Ward out, Martin Emerson and Justin Jefferson had some great battles during all sessions of practice. It seemed to go back and forth. Jefferson would get a nice catch, and then Emerson would come back with a pick or PBU. I will post some of the clips. Rookie DB, Myles Harden, had two picks in one day. He was seen in some of the first team reps in the slot corner. Dane Brugler commented on the Browns post saying, “Harden was one of the steals of the draft and that his fluidity and ball skills jump off the tape.” Hailassie made some decent plays and got some first-team reps with the Ward injury. This corner room is deep and I still could see the Browns trading him or Brown for a late-round pick. 

The story of the offensive front was the O-line. False starts and allowing pressure pretty consistently. When Watson was given time to throw there were periods of good and some bad. Watson hit Jeudy in the back of the endzone for what most people are saying was the play of the two days. Jeudy looked pretty explosive in some of his routes. He will have multiple home run plays this year. 

Bottomline – The defense should dominate again this year. The offense needs to fix the O-line issues and develop a solid run game with or without Chubb. Obviously, getting multiple guys healthy with be key to this.

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