The List of Vikings Players Who Reported Early for Training Camp
Dustin Baker
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With 48 days to go until regular season football for the Minnesota Vikings, 31 players, including all rookies and some veterans, reported to training camp on Sunday.
The 2022 Vikings have a new pizazz, chiefly because the franchise hired a new general manager for the first time in 16 years and welcomed a new head coach after eight seasons of Mike Zimmer. After back-to-back mediocre seasons, the Vikings brass had seen enough, pivoting to an era of youthful collaboration on the spine of sports analytics, led by general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Adofo-Mensah could’ve charbroiled the roster for an overdue rebuild — the Vikings never rebuild — but instead, he kept the depth chart mostly the same. The first main signals of continuity were evident in Adofo-Mensha’s contract extension for Kirk Cousins and opting not to trade star EDGE rusher Danielle Hunter, who was a popular topic in the NFL’s trade rumor mill.
Soon after, the new executive showed that he meant business by signing free agents Za’Darius Smith (EDGE), Harrison Phillips (DT), Jordan Hicks (LB), Chandon Sullivan (CB), Jesse Davis (OL), and Chris Reed (OG). And in the NFL draft, Adofo-Mensah thought defensively, making five of his first six picks from the defensive side of the ball.
Now, training camp is underway as rookies arrived in Eagan on Sunday, along with some veteran players. These are the 31 players in attendance as the event kicked off. Rookies are flagged in red.
- Brian Asamoah (LB)
- Andrew Booth (CB)
- Mike Brown (S)
- Ty Chandler (RB)
- Lewis Cine (S)
- Ryan Connelly (LB)
- Kirk Cousins (QB)
- Zach Davidson (TE)
- Akayleb Evans (CB)
- Thomas Hennigan (WR)
- Ed Ingram (OG)
- RB Bryant Koback (RB)
- William Kwenkeu (LB)
- Vederian Lowe (OT)
- Sean Mannion (QB)
- Zach McCloud (EDGE)
- Myron Mitchell (WR)
- Kellen Mond (QB)
- Johnny Mundt (TE)
- Nick Muse (TE)
- Jalen Nailor (WR)
- Esezi Otomewo (DL)
- Blake Proehl (WR)
- T.J. Smith (DL)
- Irv Smith Jr. (TE)
- Ihmir Smith-Marsette (WR)
- Josh Sokol (C)
- Tyarise Stevenson (DL)
- Jaylen Twyman (DL)
- Luiji Vilain (EDGE)
- Ryan Wright (P)
Training camp is critical for two reasons:
a) It lays the framework for the upcoming season.
b) Camp is the starting point for the coaching staff to trim the roster from 90 men to 53.
The Vikings aren’t a hot ticket for oddsmakers or NFL pundits, though. Vegas foresees Minnesota winning about eight or nine games and consequently missing the playoffs for a third straight season. Most reputable NFL power-ranking entities situate the Vikings as the league’s 20th-best team or so.
If the Vikings miss the postseason again in 2022, it will be the first time since 2005-2007 that the organization failed to qualify for the playoffs in three seasons consecutively.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band)
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