Latest Injury Update Better than Expected for Vikings
Injuries have suffused Minnesota Vikings training camp — more so than in years past.
Vikings’ Latest Injury Update Better than Expected
Cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, safety Lewis Cine, tight end Robert Tonyan, and cornerback Shaquill Griffin have battled recent ailments. 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.
And on Saturday, Jerry Tillery joined the list of fallen Vikings, a man who was Minnesota’s keynote free-agent addition at defensive tackle. 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.”
Thankfully, according to Star Tribune‘s Ben Goessling, Tillery avoided a major injury. Goessling tweeted Sunday, a day after Tillery’s scare: “Sounds like Jerry Tillery, who was carted off the field yesterday at Vikings camp, will be fine. Source said he just got cleated in practice yesterday.”
Obviously, “cleating” isn’t fun or pain-free, 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, he’s 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 immensely 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 prognosis.
The Vikings’ first preseason game occurs this Saturday at home versus Tillery’s former team, the Raiders, although it’s unclear if he’ll play.
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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