By the rules of the current collective bargaining agreement, NFL teams are not allowed to put on the pads and run contact drills until after the first two days of training camp. This is probably intended to allow players to come up to speed in those two days and reduce the chances of early injuries. Despite that, the first day of Vikings training camp saw three players added to the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, two players cut between morning and afternoon sessions (WR Josh Cooper and T Matt Hall), and two new wide receivers added to the roster (Ty Walker and Andy Cruse).
Arriving on Thursday, reporters saw that tight end Chase Ford was in a walking boot and discovered that he’d had foot surgery earlier this month and may not be fit to play until the start of the regular season. Ford also announced this on social media, which got him into some hot water with coach Mike Zimmer. Free agent pickup Captain Munnerlyn is on PUP with a hamstring issue and safety Andrew Sendejo is on PUP with a back issue. More disturbing to the fans at training camp was the news that Cordarrelle Patterson is also hobbled with a minor injury and won’t be cleared to practice for a while.
And that was just the first day of camp, with no contact.
The Daily Norseman‘s Ted Glover reports from the afternoon session:
Quarterbacks: I was asked on Twitter who was going to be the starter. It’s just way too early to tell, other than it isn’t going to be Christian Ponder. Both Matt Cassel and Teddy Bridgewater have a pretty ‘live’ ball, and Bridgewater’s arm strength is legit. Ponder gets the ball there, but his throws seem to float more than Cassel’s and definitely Bridgewater’s. There wasn’t one deep pass completed all afternoon, but the Vikings were really working on short crossing stuff, and they looked very effective doing that.
Receivers: Adam Thielen catches everything. Everything. So does Kyle Rudolph, who I didn’t see split out wide this afternoon like I did this morning. Kain Colter also had a very good afternoon, and as long as Cordarrelle Patterson is out with an injury, these guys will get to continue to make a move. Colter also looked to be the top punt return option for the afternoon practice, or was at least given a serious look.
Running Backs: Jerick McKinnon is fast. And when I say ‘fast’…I don’t know that I can describe his speed accurately. I’m pretty sure he could turn on a light switch in a darkened room, and beat the light back to the chair he was going to sit in. And that still might not be doing him justice. EFF AAY ESS TEE, fast. He’s got good hands, and made some nice cutbacks during 11 on 11 and 7 on 7 drills. That said, Matt Asiata was the #2 guy behind Peterson, and he did nothing to lose that job today. He’s still a straight ahead runner, and not nearly as fast as McKinnon, but he broke a couple of solid runs, and was a decent pass catching option.
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Coaches: The f-bombs were more prevalent during the afternoon session. At one point, Mike Zimmer had a 10 word sentence, and managed to use the EFF DASH DASH DASH word as a verb, a noun, an adverb, a pronoun, and maybe even a dangling participle. One thing though — it may be gruff, but they’re always teaching. Always. From individual unit drills, to full on 11 on 11, class was always in session.
For a much more detailed analysis of the day’s work, you can always depend on Arif Hasan:
The first day of training camp comes with a lot of anticipation and a little bit of hype. Obviously, the Vikings had a little bit more to overcome in Mankato than a typical team in terms of non-football distractions, but an aggressive strategy to resolve the issue has been at least partially effective.
It will be some time before we get a full understanding of the coaching staff and how it differs from the previous regime, but the philosophical differences are beginning to clear up.
Immediately, the unusual emphasis the Vikings paid to special teams the past two years has fallen to the wayside. That aligns with the rest of the NFL, so there’s not much to draw upon that more than anything else, though the monomaniacal emphasis on the field position battle we saw in previous years may no longer be the sturdy focus.
I’ve long argued that pundits and football intelligentsia have placed far too much importance on special teams, and a lot of that has to do with two facts: 1) there is not much distinction between the fourth-worst and fourth-best special teams unit in the NFL and 2) it is extremely rare for a team to show year-to-year excellence in special teams.
