Rehabbing Vikings Defender Is Ahead of Schedule
Janik Eckardt
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The 2023 Vikings will be remembered for one thing: Injuries. When Justin Jefferson suffered a hamstring injury that would keep him off the field for seven games, his team was 1-4 and believed to be done for the year. After climbing out of the hole to get back to a 4-4 record, Kirk Cousins’ stint on IR ended his season but also that of the franchise.
Rehabbing Vikings Defender Is Ahead of Schedule
Besides missing the deadly QB-WR combination, the Vikes were also without pricy free agent signing Marcus Davenport for the majority of the season, tight end T.J. Hockenson suffered a serious knee injury at the end of the campaign, and pass-rusher D.J. Wonnum tore his quad in the same game. Injuries were the downfall for the 2023 Vikings, and many of the players will be asked to rehab in their offseason. A terrible thought, but it’s the life of football players.
One of those guys is linebacker Brian Asamoah, who announced his surgery last week on X: “Surgery was a success. Can’t wait to attack this rehab and get back to work.”
Asamoah missed four games during the season because of an ankle injury, but he returned in the second half of the season and appeared in the season finale versus the Detroit Lions, playing his normal workload on special teams. On Monday, however, he specified and delivered some positive news: “Only been 5 days out of shoulder surgery and I’m already ahead of my rehab schedule. Thank you, God.”
The shoulder injury plagued him all season, according to KSTP’s Darren Wolfson. From a fan’s perspective, it’s good to know he is attacking the issue this early in the offseason and is rehabbing better than expected.
“My understanding is he was battling something the entire year. … We now know why it was such a difficult year. He got hurt early and he never recovered. So this surgery this week was to fix that problem that started back in training camp.”
Asamoah had quite a disappointing season, considering the lofty expectations when he entered training camp. With the departure of veteran Eric Kendricks, it was expected that he would be the team’s top linebacker next to Jordan Hicks.
The latter shined in Brian Flores’ defense, and so did rookie Ivan Pace, who stole the show and paced past Asamoah in the depth chart during training camp. Whether it was the shoulder injury or that Flores simply isn’t a big fan of the former third-rounder is a mystery.
Pace has shown his talent, and it would be a surprise if he lost his role on defense, but Hicks is scheduled to enter free agency. If the Vikings don’t re-sign him, it would once again open the role for the talented former Oklahoma Sooners linebacker.
Asamoah had a promising rookie season behind the veterans Kendricks and Hicks, and his role continued to grow towards the end of the debut year. He will turn 24 in March and a hopefully fully healthy Asamoah will fight for the starting job in August’s training camp.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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