At the Star Tribune, Jim Souhan explains why the recent rash of injuries at Vikings training camp is causing incidents of deja vu for both coaching staff and fans:
Reiff has missed much of the beginning of training camp with a back injury. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says it’s not serious, but it already is.
The 2016 Vikings should have won 10 or 11 games even without Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson. An offensive line that collapsed like a Teflon dome in a snowstorm reduced the victory total to eight.
Reiff became the Vikings’ most important free agent signing. He immediately became the starting left tackle, a position that turned into a wind tunnel last year.
Reiff is a former first-round draft pick. When you take a left tackle in the first round, you hope he’ll hold the position for a decade or more. He lasted five years in Detroit. Then the Lions let him leave.
For all of the hopes attached to him, he’s a lot like the player he’s replacing. Matt Kalil was a first-round pick in 2012 who lasted five years before leaving in free agency. For all of the angst caused by Kalil’s regression, the Viking at this point would settle for a Kalil-like performance at left tackle. Anything but a windsock would be an improvement.
So the Vikings’ last stay in Mankato is not going as Zimmer would have hoped.
Reiff is hurt. Even if he returns soon, he will have missed valuable time learning the offense.
Free-agent running back Latavius Murray hasn’t practiced. Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell is recovering from an injury he says wasn’t caused by a scuffle with Antone Exum. Given the NFL’s history of injury disclosure what we can take from that is that he was definitely injured in a scuffle with Exum.
Reiff, Murray and Treadwell were supposed to be three reasons for optimism. Like the offensive line last year, they have become problems.
