There Are a Few More Notable Injuries on the Vikings Roster
Josh Frey
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The Minnesota Vikings have largely avoided severe injuries to this point in training camp. The only truly impactful injury thus far has been to TE Irv Smith Jr., who is out for the remainder of preseason due to surgery on his thumb. However, the Vikings are going through a few more injuries right now that are holding some key depth players out of joint practice this week. Here is the list of players out for practice today:
- RB Ty Chandler (ankle)
- CB Parry Nickerson (lower leg)
- IOL Chris Reed (elbow)
These players are all in key position battles, and every snap in practice and preseason is vital. Chandler burst onto the scene in his preseason debut with five carries for 50 yards and a kick return of 56 yards. He and Kene Nwangwu are going to make it difficult for the coaching staff to get rid of either of them, but luckily for Chandler, it seems he should be fine for Saturday’s game against the Niners.
Nickerson had a very rough weekend against the Raiders, and he may be falling down the depth chart at CB if he doesn’t perform better this weekend. That said, his injury occurred while making an interception in practice on Tuesday, so things seem to be trending upwards for the CB. However, the Vikings have a very deep CB room with guys like Patrick Peterson, Cam Dantzler, and Andrew Booth at the top while Kris Boyd and Akayleb Evans continue to play well. Nickerson looks like he will also be ready to on Saturday, so we’ll see how he performs against this talented Niners offense.
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As for Reed, this is probably the most concerning injury for Minnesota. O’Connell described his elbow injury as “day-to-day, maybe a little more”. He is supposed to be in a battle for the center position with incumbent Garrett Bradbury, but this injury has continued to hold him out of key snaps.
He did not play in last weekend’s game and looks to be at risk to miss Saturday’s game as well as his elbow continues to cause issues. O’Connell still considers him to be “in the mix” for center and guard, but the more time he misses, the harder it is to justify starting him over Bradbury, who has failed to live up to his first-round draft selection in 2019.
Admittedly, the injury issues could be far worse for the Vikings. They are one of the few teams that have not had severe injuries strike their roster to this point in camp, and I’ll continue to furiously knock on wood that it stays that way. As aforementioned, Smith is the only real concern, but O’Connell provided an update on his status as well, saying that Smith is progressing exactly as planned and looks to be on track to return Week 1. That is terrific news for a Vikings team that is rather thin at the tight end position. His presence will be vital for Minnesota to make a playoff run this year.
The Vikings next preseason game will take place on Saturday, August 20th at 6 PM Central.
