Vikings Camp Journal: Day 16, Jefferson returns

The Vikings' star receiver talked after practice about his recovery from a hamstring injury

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — Following their second preseason game, the Minnesota Vikings were back at TCO Performance Center on Monday. Here’s what we learned…

What I heard

Justin Jefferson was back practicing — sorta. He was working out on the side field while the team participated in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills and then got together with JJ McCarthy and the starters for the slow walk-through portions.

“It'll be kind of a ramp up,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said before practice. “You'll see him take parts in bits and pieces of it here, but he will officially be back to work and be ramping up from here.”

There wasn’t an exact timeline given but it stands to reason that if Jefferson gets ramped up over the next two practices that he will be ready to fully participate when training camp officially ends and the team begins its in-season practice schedule next week in preparation for the Chicago Bears.

Jefferson has been trying to make the most of his time off the field by standing right behind the huddle each play and communicating consistently with quarterback JJ McCarthy and the receivers.

“To get in the head of JJ, to see what he sees and talk to him after each play and say, ‘hey, what did you see right here? What did you think right here?'” Jefferson said. “I [focused] on the pros more than the cons over the last couple of weeks.”

In particular, Jefferson has talked a lot with Jordan Addison throughout camp. Asked how Addison has looked to him from a different viewpoint, Jefferson said:

“Fantastic. I feel like he’s a lot more talkative to me as a coach than me as a player. I love him asking me different questions….watching him from afar and seeing him through his routes and seeing him through his releases and teaching him how to beat the press coverage especially jump-jam corners. It’s definitely a great transition for JA. He’s learning and blossoming as a big-time receiver.”

As far as preventing any further hamstring issues, Jefferson said that the trainers are focusing their plan around his unique body and play style.

“What I got from it is that I’m different than a lot of other people,” the star receiver said. “The way I move, the way my body is positioned, the way I cut…different positions I might put more stress on my body than a normal typical person would.”

Also along the injury front, Jalen Nailor was not practicing after injuring his hand during joint practices. O’Connell called his issue “week to week” and would not say whether he is considering surgery or not.

“We're more than likely going to hold him out for now,” O’Connell said. “He's kind of figuring out what the best plan of action.”

The rest of the receiver room has not seen any one player run away from the pack. Lucky Jackson has been taking the majority of the first-team reps in Jefferson’s absence but problems with drops cropped up during joint practices and the preseason game.

O’Connell’s comments about the receiver depth sounded like he is begging someone to step up in this week’s practices and third preseason game.

“I feel like we're getting a great chance to see guys in some roles and positions that maybe they don't always get those reps,” O’Connell said. “We'll continue to look forward to what combination of those guys makes us the best possible offense we can be.”

One other injury note: KOC had good news on Josh Metellus, who got banged up at the end of Thursday’s practice with New England.

“We avoided anything long term with him,” O’Connell said. “So much so that he'll work back in today. He'll be working through some soreness, but he's going to be in a good spot.”

Onto non-injury stuff…

Defensive tackle Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins has put together an impressive training camp and preseason, especially considering that he didn’t have a ton of reps in his background while playing at Georgia.

“He's been everything we had hoped he would be,” O’Connell said. “We really identified him throughout the process as somebody that could be versatile along that front. Doing as many as three or four different roles, whether being an inside, early-down player, a five technique, even some edge snaps as a bigger body edge against some teams that like to attack certain parts of the formation in the run game. What I've loved seeing is just the football makes sense to him.”

Could Ingram-Dawkins end up with a role during the regular season? Competition is stiff up front with the three veteran DTs and Jalen Redmond continuing to thrive in his rotational spot. But Brian Flores has a reputation for carving out spots for players on the front seven who can make an impact.

“He's got some unique traits to go along with the physical traits that we were so drawn to in the evaluation process,” O’Connell said. “He’s been part of the reason why you feel so great about that D-line depth.”

What I saw

The Vikings practiced in shells, so it was not an intense workout. We can expect Tuesday and Wednesday’s practices to be tougher, padded practices.

With Nailor out and Jefferson still not fully participating, it was a jumbled lineup around JJ McCarthy. Monday was the first time we have seen veteran Tim Jones take first-team reps. Jones has 17 career regular season receptions to his name and made five receptions in the matchup with the Patriots on Saturday. He was signed as a special teams ace but the Vikings are now in a position to try everyone with QB1.

Jeshaun Jones also walked into the locker room with a trainer, leaving the receiver unit even lighter.

McCarthy had one interception over the middle by Blake Cashman and otherwise had a fine, uneventful practice. He stuck to the typical script of completing passes to TJ Hockenson, Jordan Addison, Aaron Jones and Josh Oliver.