Though the Vikings are coming off a bye week, their injury report heading into Sunday’s game against the Lions is their longest of the season.
The Vikings listed seven players with injury designations ahead of their battle for the NFC North lead with the Lions, ruling out linebacker Blake Cashman and cornerback Akayleb Evans while listing five players (running back Aaron Jones, tight end T.J. Hockenson, guard Dalton Risner, defensive lineman Harrison Phillips and outside linebacker Patrick Jones II) as questionable. It seemed on Friday, though, like several of them had a chance to play against Detroit.
Risner and Hockenson are in their 21-day window to practice before they could possibly return from injured reserve, and both were limited participants in practice for the third time this week on Friday. If the Vikings were to play either one in Sunday’s game, they’d have to activate them from injured reserve by 3 p.m. Saturday.
It seemed likely this week that Hockenson’s return would wait until the Rams game on Thursday night or the Colts game on Nov. 3. Risner said this week he’s been ready to play, and though he’s yet to go through a full practice, coach Kevin O’Connell left the door open that Risner could be active, and even play, against the Lions.
”We want to make sure that stays competitive, and we end up with the best five, no matter what the week is,” O’Connell said of the offensive line. “But Dalton’s been doing well, and he’s definitely healthy and working every single day to be right there in the mix. I’m really proud of the way Dalton’s handled the whole situation.”
“He got some good work in today, and actually, two really good days of work,” O’Connell said. “I always have dialogue with those guys [on the medical staff] about what the plan of attack is, whether it’s going to be, he’s up and rolling or we need to see anything on game day. But I know he’s prepared, I know he’s ready to roll, and we’ll see how he feels as we work through the weekend.”
