Vikings Star Player Gets Some Positive Injury News
Jordan Addison is a star player for the Vikings. Still only 22, the receiver looks to be one of the cornerstone pieces for the 2024 season.
He came into the game with a bad ankle that arrived due the Cleveland joint practices. Unfortunately, he had to leave the game against New York due to a new ankle injury. Kevin O’Connell spoke to the media, explaining that it’s actually the other ankle that got hurt in the Week 1 win.
Vikings Star Player is Working Through Minor Injury
O’Connell didn’t have a ton to say about the matter, but he did offer a bit of information.
“He did get an ankle,” O’Connell begins, “it was his other ankle than the one he’s kind of had.” The head coach goes on to explain that Minnesota will “have him fully evaluated” and that he doesn’t “know the full severity of it yet.” The hope is that “it’ll be a shorter term thing.”
NFL insider Ian Rapoport helped to fill in some of the gap, indicating that Addison isn’t dealing with a situation that’s overly serious.
The word from Rapoport: “#Vikings WR Jordan Addison will have more tests on his ankle injury tomorrow, but my understanding is he is not believed to have suffered a major injury. Good news for an offense that saw Sam Darnold look effortless — with his only INT coming on a deflected pass after being hit.”
Good news, indeed.
At various points, Darnold and Addison appeared to have a solid connection. The smaller, shifty receiver finished his day with 4 targets, 3 receptions, and 35 yards. Obviously, those numbers could have been a decent bit higher had he been able to play the full game.
As a rookie, Addison snagged 70 receptions for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns. He demonstrated at various points that he’s capable of winning deep, so defenses need to account for the fact that Minnesota’s #2 receiver can score in a hurry.
The Vikings are already operating without T.J. Hockenson, so any missed time from Jordan Addison would feel doubly significant. Justin Jefferson has a gravitational pull on defensive backs and it only grows more pronounced when the WR2 and TE1 aren’t in the lineup.
That’s the paradox of Minnesota’s offense: inserting high-level pass catchers into the lineup could lead to even more production for Mr. Jefferson.
Minnesota’s next game will take place on Sunday, September 15th when the San Francisco 49ers visit U.S. Bank Stadium. Last year, the Vikings overcame the 49ers 22-17. Addison had a great day, turning 7 receptions into 123 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The sophomore has a $3,120,849 cap charge.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.