Another Injury Rattles Vikings Training Camp
So far at Minnesota Vikings training camp, the club has experienced injuries to cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, safety Lewis Cine, tight end Robert Tonyan, and cornerback Shaquill Griffin. All besides 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.
Another Injury Rattles Vikings Training Camp
Then on Saturday, another semi-high-profile name hopped on the injury train when defensive tackle Jerry Tillery was carted off TCO Performance Center Field.
The Athletic‘s Alec Lewis tweeted, “Vikings DT Jerry Tillery was down for a few minutes. The cart came out, but instead Tillery got on the golf cart. Didn’t look good at all. He’d been taking reps with 1s in 5-down looks at DT.”
And seven hours after the tweet, at the time of this article’s publication, no update was available regarding the injury’s severity. Most onlookers generally concluded, “It didn’t look good.”
Losing Tillery for any period would be a significant blow to the Vikings’ interior defensive line — which also happens to be one of the weak links on the roster. Tillery represented general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s keynote free-agent signing at defensive tackle, and if the injury bleeds into the regular season, well, Minnesota would turn to a player like Williams or Drake Rodriguez, mentioned by Lewis, or Jonathan Bullard or James Lynch, for example.
Hopefully, Tillery’s injury turns out to be less severe, and he finds his way back to action for the regular season — five weeks from now.
A 1st-Round pick from the 2019 NFL Draft, Tillery is a markedly better pass rusher than run-stuffer, though he shouldn’t be considered a quarterback-pressure savant. In NFL-speak, he’s fairly average and never totally effectuated his lofty draft stock. It is unclear if Tillery was on tap to start for the 2024 Vikings, but he has run with the first-teamers throughout training camp.
Minnesota’s defense ranked 24th per DVOA in 2022 under Ed Donatell and improved mightily in 2023 under Brian Flores — to the tune of 11th-best in the NFL. 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 move, Flores could nudge the Vikings’ defense into the Top 10. That’s the hope.
If Tillery’s absence becomes extended but the aforementioned Williams, Bullard, Lynch, or Drake Rodriguez do not take over his workload, other DTs like Jalen Redmond and Jaquelin Roy are on the summer roster.
The Vikings should have a more complete Tillery update on Sunday.
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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