Smooth Sailing for the Vikings on the First Injury Report

Jul 27, 2022; Eagan, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine (6) performs a drill at TCO Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Vikings released their first injury report of the 2022 regular season on Wednesday, and my goodness, it was a beautifully empty piece of paper. Jonathan Bullard is the only player that appeared as a limited participant on Wednesday. Bullard is the starter inserted in place of Armon Watts.

Bullard’s injury is stated as a bicep, but his participation was only “limited”, causing hope that this is precautionary to make sure he is ready to go for Sunday. If Minnesota must go in another direction, they have options at defensive line. Both Ross Blacklock and James Lynch are listed as backups at DE on the second team.

At any rate, this is terrific news for the Vikings heading into the season opener. This may go down as the cleanest injury report in the entire NFL not only for this week, but for the entire season. The Vikings health is testament to the training staff for helping players recover on a daily basis. It helps that Kevin O’Connell gave the starters reps in joint practices rather than in preseason games.

It’s certainly cleaner than Green Bay’s injury report, which included 11 players, and WR Allen Lazard did not participate at all with an ankle injury. Here’s the full list of Packers on the report:

  • OT David Bakhtiari (knee)
  • K Mason Crosby (knee)
  • LB Tipa Galeai (elbow)
  • C Jake Hanson (shoulder)
  • OL Elgton Jenkins (pec/knee)
  • WR Allen Lazard (ankle)
  • S Allin Leavitt (shoulder)
  • OT Yosh Nijman (knee)
  • S Darnell Savage (hamstring)
  • TE Robert Tonyan (knee)
  • WR Christian Watson (knee)

Additionally, the report does not include Andrew Booth Jr., who left the preseason finale against the Denver Broncos with an ankle injury. The removal of his name from the Vikings first injury report suggests that he is ready to go for Sunday and should get some playing against the Packers.

As practice continues, hopefully the trend of players getting healthy continues. The Green Bay Packers will head to Minnesota to play the Vikings on Sunday, September 11th at 3:25 PM Central.


Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh‘s hobbies include training for a marathon, playing video games, and rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his takes, NFL and otherwise, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken

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