Positive Update on One Vikings Injury
Four days ago, the Minnesota Vikings were bitten by another training camp injury as newcomer defensive tackle Jerry Tillery encountered an ailment that seemed grim at the time.
Positive Update on One Vikings Injury
Fast forward to Tuesday, and Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell provided a rosy update on Tillery. Although painful, Tillery shouldn’t miss any time in the regular season and may be ready for the preseason, which kicks off on Saturday versus the Las Vegas Raiders in Minneapolis.
“He did get a pretty significant laceration, kind of on the back of his leg there, lower calf area. That, although very concerning, he’s going to be fully recovered. He did have to get a couple stitches,” O’Connell told reporters.
In short, Tillery was cleated.
O’Connell added, “As far as the major injuries that maybe our fans or you folks might have been worried about, that is not the case. He’ll be back. Just gotta let those stitches heal, and he’ll be ready to roll.”
Meanwhile, cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, safety Lewis Cine, tight end Robert Tonyan, and cornerback Shaquill Griffin have battled recent injuries. All, aside from Blackmon, should be back before too long. Tight end T.J. Hockenson and cornerback NaJee Thompson are also on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
Obviously, “cleating” isn’t ideal or painless, but Tillery ducked the ultimate bad news that beset the aforementioned Blackmon, who will miss the entire 2024 campaign. Minnesota would’ve turned to a player like Jonah Williams or Levi Drake Rodriguez, who have intermixed with first-teamers at training camp, or Jonathan Bullard or James Lynch, for example, if Tillery’s recovery time bled into the regular season. Yet, with Tillery still in the plans for 2024, he may still win a starter’s job outright.
Tillery was the Los Angeles Chargers’ 1st-Round pick in 2019. He is a markedly better pass rusher than run-stuffer, though he shouldn’t be considered a quarterback-pressure guru. In NFL terms, Tiller is fairly average and never totally effectuated his lofty draft stock. It is unclear if Tillery is totally on tap to start for the 2024 Vikings, but he has run with the first-teamers throughout training camp.
He did, however, bank a 68.3 Pro Football Focus grade with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023, which is quite productive by Vikings’ defensive tackles standards and probably why general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah signed on for his services in March.
Minnesota’s defense placed 24th in the NFL per DVOA in 2022 under Ed Donatell and improved greatly in 2023 under Brian Flores — to the tune of 11th-best leaguewide. With the new defenders Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Dallas Turner, and Blake Cashman, along with Jonathan Bullard’s return to the depth chart and the Tillery addition, Flores could climb into the league’s Top 10. Tillery avoiding major injury helps that projection.
With or without Tillery in the lineup on Saturday, the Vikings are 3.5-point underdogs versus the Raiders.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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