Vikings Head Coach Opens the Door to Influx of Returning Talent

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell tends to lean toward optimism. Nevertheless, the update he provided earlier this week arrives as good news and shouldn’t be pushed aside as the standard coach positivity.

The team’s skipper was doing his weekly chat with Paul Allen. In the roughly twenty minutes of talking, O’Connell eventually got tasked with bringing things around to what sort of help may arrive after working through the bye. O’Connell’s clarification is that LT1 Christian Darrisaw, TE1 T.J. Hockenson, and WR2 Jordan Addison are going to get some work in practice as they push to play in the Week 7 Colts game.

Vikings Head Coach Sees Help on Horizon

Already, there’s been some news about getting some reinforcements. Running back Jordan Mason has seen his practice window opened, allowing the hulking runner to see if he’s ready to roll on Sunday.

Truth be told, there’s next to no suspense on this one: expect Mr. Mason to be out there.

Where there’s still a small amount of mystery is in the availability of the other players being out there against the Colts. “We’re expecting all those guys to be able to participate in practice,” O’Connell clarified. Not long afterwards, there was an acknowledgement from the Vikings head coach about the bye arriving at an excellent time.

Consider what the Vikings’ starting lineup should look like in Week 7 with all of the talent coming back:

Much to like in the collection of talent contained above.

Indeed, there’s a great mixture of firepower and fisticuffs. Put differently, a good blend of skill (Jefferson, Addison, Kyler) alongside some gritty snarl (Fries, Mason, Jennings). The task in front of Kevin O’Connell is to make it all coherent as the team’s offense begins pulling its own weight.

Now, there’s still some absences in the projected lineup above due to the long-term injuries to LG1 Donovan Jackson and TE2 Josh Oliver. As a result, it’s not perfect. Still, though, it’s an improvement on what Minnesota had available moving into the bye week.

The Vikings roll into Week 7 at a sparkling 5-0. However, the offense sits at 22nd in the NFL by averaging 21.8 points per game. Just as a point of reference, the Bills are sitting in 1st in the NFL by averaging 32.8 points per game, so we’re talking about an 11-point difference between where the Vikings sit and the peak.

Minnesota tends to be cautious with player health. More often than not, the team’s leadership opts to take a long-term view rather than prioritize the short-term upside of pushing a player to work through an injury.

What Kevin O’Connell appears to be suggesting, though, is that the player health is such that there’s no need to exercise caution. Look for all of Darrisaw, Hockenson, Addison, and Mason to be active.

Kickoff for the Vikings v. Colts game is set for 12:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, October 25th.