The Curveball on Jalen Nailor’s Injury
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jalen Nailor will play on Monday Night Football against the Chicago Bears.
The Vikings received a curveball on Jalen Nailor’s injury status, shaking up expectations and leaving fans wondering about his game-readiness.
But the update didn’t come without a bit of surprise — the speedster evidently broke his hand this summer and has since nursed the ailment back to health.
Injury Situation for Jalen Nailor Takes Unexpected Turn
The veteran wide receiver revealed that he broke his hand.
Jalen Nailor’s Hand Injury Wasn’t a Totally Tiny Thing
Nailor revealed late last week that he fractured his hand at joint practices against the New England Patriots. Fans might recall a weeks-long period when it felt like Minnesota was down to nubbins at wide receiver because of Jordan Addison’s incoming suspension, Justin Jefferson’s hamstring injury that kept him out of training camp and the preseason, and Rondale Moore’s season-ending knee malady.
The injury to Nailor was in the mix, too.
The panic made sense in retrospect, as Nailor evidently broke his hand, which, outwardly, is a big deal for a wide receiver.
Apparently Ready for Week 1
Nailor told reporters that he had a small procedure on the fractured hand. It must’ve been small — he wasn’t on the Week 1 injury report, a strange development because one might surmise that a recently healed hand would warrant such a designation.
Pro Football Talk‘s Mike Florio noted last weekend, “On Monday night, the Vikings won’t be as shorthanded at receiver as the Vikings had feared. Receiver Jalen Nailor has no injury designation on the final report in advance of the Week 1 game at Chicago.”
“It means that he’s good to go, following a mid-August hand injury that coach Kevin O’Connell had described as ‘week to week.’ Nailor was a full participant in practice all week.”
Adam Thielen Also in the House
What’s more, the Vikings also have Adam Thielen back in the fold after a trade with the Carolina Panthers. Thielen quietly campaigned for the trade, and Panthers boss Dan Morgan obliged his request late last month.
So, even though Nailor is good to go for Week 1, Thielen’s arrival represented a demotion for Nailor, who would’ve been on deck for WR2 duty until Week 4 when the aforementioned Addison can return.
Per target load, Thielen is likely to slide seamlessly back into his old job: WR2 for the purple team, with Nailor in a familiar spot — WR3.
Nailor’s Contract Year
This season is arguably the most important of Nailor’s young career. His rookie contract will expire in January or February, and all signs point to free agency for the 26-year-old. Minnesota drafted wide receiver Tai Felton in Round 3 back in April, and he appears on deck to snag the WR3 job before too long, or at least receive an honest-to-goodness audition.
Little to no extension buzz has accompanied Nailor’s contract this summer. This could be his swan song in the Twin Cities.
PurplePTSD on Nailor
Our Kyle Joudry wrote about Nailor one week ago: “Nevertheless, there’s a pretty clear-cut reality taking place in Minnesota: adding Adam Thielen means demoting Jalen Nailor. The Vikings don’t send over pick compensation and see precious cap space drift away (even with an adjusted contract) to see Thielen play a tiny role.”
“Rather, Thielen is going to be out there more often than not when the team requires two receivers. Once Jordan Addison comes back, Nailor is going to slide down the depth chart even further. He’ll be the WR4, a tough spot to be when one is looking to prove capable of being a legit weapon for an NFL offense. Finally, consider that Minnesota’s pass catchers extend beyond just the talented receivers.”
Nailor logged 6 touchdowns in 2024.
Joudry added, “Aaron Jones is a threat coming out of the backfield. He could very reasonably flirt with 50 catches a year after seeing 62 targets turn into 51 catches. And then there’s T.J. Hockenson, one of the game’s best tight ends who is now fully healthy and likely to demand a strong workload. To be sure, an uphill climb for Jalen Nailor.”
“He needs to get his body right. Getting onto the field for Week 1 is a good step, but he’ll be (at best) the fourth option in the passing game as he operates behind all of Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and T.J. Hockenson (possibly Aaron Jones, too, at least in terms of targets). From Week 4 onward, Nailor will slide down even more since Jordan Addison is going to demand targets and touches.”
Nailor endured a case of the “drops” throughout the summer, causing fans to wonder how the healed hand will jibe with that situation.
Minnesota hasn’t lost a game at Soldier Field in six years, and Monday night will mark the dawn of the J.J. McCarthy era.
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