Ankle injuries scramble Vikings' roster call
A late-game ankle injury to breakout safety Jacob Thomas and a banged-up J.J. McCarthy complicate Minnesota's roster cutdown, hours after a 34-6 preseason finale loss in Denver closed an uneven 1-2 exhibition slate.
The ankle that couldn't have come at a worse time
Jacob Thomas wasn't supposed to be a name anybody outside the building knew in April. The undrafted James Madison product forced his way into the safety conversation all summer, and Kevin O'Connell had been raving about him for weeks — 'really instinctive,' 'a great communicator,' someone who 'every single day, it feels like he makes a play at practice,' the coach said after Thomas put up six tackles against Baltimore. Seven plays into Friday's finale in Denver, Thomas went down covering a deep ball intended for Marvin Mims and was carted to the locker room with what O'Connell believes is an ankle sprain, pending an MRI, ESPN's Kevin Seifert reported. It's a brutal moment for a player who had built a real case for a roster spot with nothing left to prove.
Head Coach Kevin O'Connell says that he believes it's an ankle sprain for Jacob Thomas and that Thomas will get an MRI on it.
J.J. McCarthy's summer took a stranger turn. Kyler Murray, signed off Arizona's scrap heap in March, took the larger share of first-team reps through camp and was named the Week 1 starter before the preseason even wrapped, the Star Tribune reported — meaning McCarthy spent his third training camp battling Carson Wentz for a backup job. An ankle issue kept him out of Friday's finale entirely, and with the position now that unsettled two days before the 53-man deadline, Pro Football Talk reported Saturday that O'Connell 'doesn't rule out keeping four quarterbacks on the roster' — a sign Minnesota may simply carry the logjam into the season rather than resolve it.
The preseason ends with a lopsided finale in Denver
Minnesota closed out the exhibition slate with a 34-6 loss at Denver, finishing the preseason 1-2 after the August 15 road win over the Giants and the August 22 home loss to Baltimore. With McCarthy sidelined, Carson Wentz got the start and went 3 of 4 for 15 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, shaking off a fumble he recovered himself — about as clean a night as a man throwing four passes can have.
Giants13-10
Ravens3-13
Broncos6-34The #Vikings fell to the Broncos Friday night in the preseason finale. @tatumeverett and @nacholeber had the full postgame breakdown. t.co/IAZkn4h7P5
The real business was on special teams and in the bubble. Will Reichard kept making the loudest case of any Viking for a locked-in job, connecting from 46 and 28 yards. Demond Claiborne carried it eight times for 21 yards and added two kickoff returns for 55 yards, exactly the kind of value that shows up on a 53-man spreadsheet in late August. Tatum Everett and Nacho Leber broke the loss down on the Vikings' own postgame show, embedded below — as good a look as any at how the building is framing a night that will be forgotten the moment the games start counting.
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The safety and quarterback rooms weren't the only spots in flux this week. Cornerback Tyreek Chappell and defensive tackle Taki Taimani both reverted to injured reserve Tuesday, per the NFL's official transaction log, and cornerback Dwight McGlothern Jr. followed a day later — three depth pieces off the 53 before general manager weekend even begins in earnest.
Wide receiver Jeshaun Jones, meanwhile, will be unavailable regardless of whether he'd have made the roster: the NFL suspended him three games this week for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported. Add it to the pile Minnesota has to sort through before Sunday's deadline — a defense and receiver room both a little thinner than they were a week ago, right as the safety spot behind them just got shakier too.
A division opener against a Packers pass rush that isn't whole yet
Minnesota opens the regular season Sunday afternoon vs. the Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium, and it will double as Kyler Murray's first real start under center. Green Bay finished its own preseason 2-1, capped by a 42-38 win over the Cardinals, but the Packers won't have the piece that was supposed to change their defense: Micah Parsons opened camp on the physically unable to perform list coming off ACL surgery, and he's told reporters his most optimistic return date is Week 6 against Dallas on October 18, per Yahoo Sports and AtoZ Sports. A division rival missing its best pass rusher for the opener is exactly the kind of edge a fan wants to know about walking in.
The line opened with the Vikings favored by 1.5 points, and the total opened at 45.5 — a middling number for a game between two teams still figuring out who they are on offense. It's a Sunday afternoon at home, division stakes from the jump, and Minnesota gets to find out what its own quarterback answer looks like before a home crowd.