Vikings Training Camp Diary: July 26

Welcome to the Minnesota Vikings Training Camp Diary! Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about the Vikings’ training camp practice on July 26 in an easy-to-read bullet form.

Transactions

• The Vikings announced multiple roster moves on Friday:
  • Placed on the Active/PUP list were:
    • CB Mike Hughes (ACL)
    • TE David Morgan (knee)
    • WR Brandon Zylstra (hamstring)
  • Placed on Active/Non-Football Injury list were:
    • DE Tashawn Bower (achilles)
    • DT Shamar Stephen (undisclosed)

Injury updates

• Head coach Mike Zimmer said Stephen “won’t be out long”
• Mike Hughes ran sprints and did rehab work off to the side with trainers
• Zimmer said Tashawn Bower suffered a torn achilles while working out at home. A full tear of the tendon will generally require an 11-month recovery) but Zimmer did not provide a timetable for Bower’s recovery
• DT Linval Joseph is rehabbing from an upper body operation this offseason. He was a limited participant on Friday (non-contact drills only)
• WR Jeff Badet (undisclosed) did not practice in the afternoon session

Notables

• The Vikings offense featured some new wrinkles – the most obvious difference being the number of plays that included horizontal shifts at or around the line of scrimmage, including QB rollouts, naked bootlegs, outside runs and screens
• Zimmer said Kirk Cousins has been working with QB coach Klint Kubiak on “instinctively creating space” in the pocket
• Ameer Abdullah took the majority of RB2 reps with Alexander Mattison mixing in
• Jordan Taylor and Chad Beebe split time at WR3
• WR Laquon Treadwell was strictly with the reserve teams
• At guard, Dakota Dozier was given reps over Dru Samia
• At safety, Derron Smith was given reps over Marcus Epps
• Cornerback Kris Boyd received second-team reps over Holton Hill
• DT’s Jaleel Johnson and Jalyn Holmes took reps with the first-team defense when Joseph sat out
• The Vikings continued to work out veteran cornerbacks, bringing in Morris Claiborne on Friday – per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network

Highlights

There weren’t too many highlights from Day 1, but it seems clear the Vikings want to utilize Cousins’ ability to throw an accurate deep ball.

• 4th-year safety Jayron Kearse made a nice play, hauling in a diving interception on an deflected pass from current QB2 Sean Mannion
• Running back Dalvin Cook stood out from the crowd – now that he’s 100% healthy, he’s absolutely electric with the ball in his hands

Reflection

• The story of training camp on Day 1 became the performance of kicker Dan Bailey, who went 4-of-7 in live FG attempts. The Vikings opted to not bring in any competition for Bailey, but that could change quickly if he keeps missing kicks
• Zimmer said on KFAN after practice that the team ran sprints because it was a planned activity
• As is typical fashion under Zimmer, veteran players were given snaps over rookies to begin camp
• Both the walkthrough and afternoon practice featured a lot of reps
• It wasn’t exactly a smooth start to camp, but Vikings football is back!