Day three of the Minnesota Vikings training camp continued this mourning with the standard walk through, featuring light, slow paced drills for both the offense and defense.
All though the Mankato weather consisted of gusts of wind and a chilly temperature, things will get heated up in the afternoon session, when players put the pads on for the first time, and dish out real contact during 7-on-7 and full team drills.
I will have more coverage after this afternoons practice, featuring more notes, along with pictures and interviews from Mike Zimmer, Brian Robison, and more.
Here are some notes from the early portion of practice from day three.
Cordarrelle Patterson participated in the morning walk through after sitting out the first two days with a left foot injury. The injury isn’t serious and sounds to be more of a fatigue issue more than anything. Patterson said in an interview if he had to he could play, and go through the conditioning tests if need be. As of now though he will not suit up in pads for the afternoon practice, but coach Zimmer says he may participate in tomorrow evenings night scrimmage.
Other injuries include new cornerback Captain Munnerlyn and safety Andrew Sendejo. Munnerlyn tweaked his hamstring earlier in the week and says he will be back on the field soon. Things aren’t as optimistic for Sendejo however, as an apparent back injury seems to be more serious than first thought. He will get it looked at by trainer Eric Sugarman later today to get a full report on the situation. Expect Sendejo to miss at least a few weeks, if not more. A huge blow for Sendejo, who is clawing for playing time in a newly crowded and talented safety group. Guys like Robert Blanton, Jamarca Sanford, Kurt Coleman, and Antone Exum will see their workload increase in his absence.
Zimmer continued to shuffle multiple players in and out of the first, second, and third team units in hopes of ultimately finding his starting and backup players in his base defense. Veteran Chad Greenway was a consistent piece to almost every different defense formation, while peers Audie Cole, Jasper Brinkley, and Gerald Hodges subbed with one another in multiple looks and fronts. Meanwhile rookie Anthony Barr stayed on the field continuously, playing with all three-units, signaling the importance from coaches to get the top-ten pick on the field as much as possible.
The offensive line continued their continuity, starting the same five offensive lineman from the past two seasons, but the second team unit has seen a lot of changes. Stanford rookie David Yankey has jumped into the second team unit, knocking last years rookie Jeff Baca back into the third team. Free agent acquisition Vladimir Ducasse, and rookie free-agent tackle Antonio Richardson was also seen with the second-unit, making it clear Zimmer has no problem throwing his young players into the fire early and often.
Even with backup running back Matt Asiata receiving high praise for his offseason improvements, it was rookie Jerick McKinnon who took the majority of second-team reps during the mourning practice. Expect to see both players split the backup shares equally, as the team attempts to find their third-down back, and change-of-pace back to Adrian Peterson.
Teddy Bridgewater got under center and lined up in a spread formation with five targets including Patterson, Greg Jennings, Jarious Wright, Jerome Simpson, and Kyle Rudolph. While its still very early, this formation on paper will give Vikings fans an exciting hope for what this season may bring from a personnel stand point, getting the most talented players on the field at one time.
Norv Turner has already surpassed Bill Musgraves vanilla playbook, and it only took three practices. Matt Cassel dropped back, and waited for Kyle Rudolph’s blockers to set up, for a precise and well timed tight-end screen pass. This creativity is something fans have longed for after watching Musgrave’s play designs lull them to sleep over the past three seasons.
Another rookie free-agent is already gaining plenty of playing time, as tight-end A.C. Leonard started out lined up with the second team unit this mourning. Leonard was named the FCS tight-end of the year two-seasons ago because of his big-play ability, but went undrafted because of some off the field issues. Lining him up with Kyle Rudolph in Turner’s tight-end friendly system is something to keep an eye as camp continues.
During Zimmer’s press conference I asked him when he planned setting the depth chart in stone, in hopes to start growing some cohesiveness with each unit. He replied saying tuesday night he plans on sitting down with his coaching staff and narrowing down what starters he wants at each position. So expect Wednesdays practice to be a big indicator as to who Zimmer is unofficially naming his early starters.