Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell Gives Injury Updates Following 2nd Preseason Game
Following the Minnesota Vikings preseason loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell gave a few injury updates on some of the Vikings players.
With this upcoming week being the final days of the preseason schedule, it is important for all the players to be at their very best if they want to secure roster spots for this upcoming season. You can watch O’Connell’s full press conference linked here, but these are the main injury updates given by the Vikings head coach on Saturday night.
CB NaJee Thompson Has Concussion Symptoms
For the second consecutive week, Vikings CB NaJee Thompson had a highlight play on the special teams. He stopped Titans returner Kyle Phillips in his tracks on a punt return during the first quarter, but it was a bit of a scary play considering it was made after Thompson lost his helmet.
In the aftermath of the play, Thompson began feeling concussion symptoms, and he would not return to the game. O’Connell said it would be likely that he heads into concussion protocol for this week, but hopefully, he is able to return to the field soon and continue to pursue his spot on the 53-man roster.
“NaJee Thompson started to develop some concussion symptoms after making that real strong play there on special teams, so he’ll be somebody to monitor. More than likely he’s in the protocol here for the short-term, and we’ll allow him to go through that process,” O’Connell stated.
WR N’Keal Harry Injured in Warmups
The Vikings wide receiver battle has been one of the more intriguing ones throughout camp with a number of players showing out when given opportunity. Recent acquisition N’Keal Harry has been one of those players, making a few nice catches in his short tenure with the Vikings.
However, the wide receiver would not appear in Minnesota’s second preseason game against the Titans due to an injury sustained in warmups.
“N’Keal Harry was the only player that we planned on having [who] had a little bit of a soft-tissue aggravation in warmups, and we wanted to be smart with him. Instead of making him push through, but that was an unfortunate one to see him [hurt] tonight,” O’Connell said.
No News on Asamoah, Nailor, or Nwangwu
While O’Connell gave updates on the players who suffered injuries before or during the game, we did not get any news on Brian Asamoah, Jalen Nailor, or Kene Nwangwu. Nailor has been out since the first day of training camp with an injury, and while it has allowed others to shine like Jalen Reagor and Brandon Powell, hopefully the second-year player is able to get back on the field soon.
As for Nwangwu, his injury remains undisclosed, and it has taken much longer for him to get back onto the field than expected after he left the Vikings preseason opener. Asamoah may not have played on Saturday regardless of his injury status, so hopefully, there isn’t too much of a serious problem there either for the projected starting linebacker.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.