The Minnesota Vikings have been a bit banged up over the past few weeks, especially on the defensive side of the football.
Marcus Davenport was one of the Vikings top free agent signees this spring, and he has played a grand total of four snaps on defense this season. Meanwhile, Josh Metellus has been dealing with a shoulder injury for the past couple weeks.
On Wednesday’s injury report ahead of Week 4, these injury problems remained apparent. 5 Vikings defenders sat out of practice, and while two of them were for rest, the others were due to injuries.
5 Vikings Defenders Sat Out of Wednesday’s Practice
Here is the full injury report for the Vikings on Wednesday:
- C Garrett Bradbury (Back, Limited)
- OLB Marcus Davenport (Ankle, DNP)
- OLB Pat Jones (Knee, Limited)
- S Josh Metellus (Shoulder, DNP)
- CB Byron Murphy (Hip, DNP)
- DL Harrison Phillips (Rest, DNP)
- S Harrison Smith (Rest, DNP)
Once again, Davenport remains on the sidelines to begin the week, putting into question his status ahead of Minnesota’s game against the Panthers. Meanwhile, Pat Jones is also dealing with a knee injury, which could limit the Vikings pass rush even further if he were to be less than 100% going into this game.
Currently, the Vikings have recorded six sacks through the first three games, which ranks among the bottom 12 teams in the league. Danielle Hunter has been the one saving grace for Minnesota and has five sacks by himself.
Meanwhile, Byron Murphy sat out practice as well with a hip injury that he suffered during the Chargers game last weekend. He did not have his best game covering Keenan Allen last weekend, but if he were to sit out, that could move Mekhi Blackmon into a starting role this week.
Blackmon was selected by the Vikings in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of USC, and he has played 47 defensive snaps through the first three weeks of the season.
These injuries could also open the door to both Andrew Booth and Lewis Cine finally seeing a few defensive snaps this weekend. Neither of the Vikings top two picks in the 2022 Draft have seen a single snap with the defense to begin the year.
If either of these two were to see time on Sunday, it would go a long ways towards showing whether or not they are capable of contributing on an NFL roster.
For both the Panthers and Vikings, this is a game that very much determines whether or not they can be competitive this season. Each team enters the week sitting at 0-3 and needing a win to keep a glimmer of playoff hope alive.
Each team will release two more injury reports this week on Thursday and Friday, and kickoff between the two is scheduled for 12 PM Central at Bank of America Stadium.
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.
