The Vikings’ practice on Wednesday was the last one fully open to the media and the last one of what I’d consider to be training camp. Next up is the preseason finale in Tennessee on Friday, followed by roster cuts on Tuesday, and then it’s all about preparations for the regular season opener in Chicago on September 8. Thus, this will be the final installment in my series of practice recaps that began with Day 1 back on July 23.
After a couple slower days in shells on Monday and Tuesday, it was fun to see the Vikings hold an intense, competitive, fully-padded practice on Wednesday. It was all 11-on-11 work in scrimmage-like settings where the ball was moving and each rep was meaningful. The Vikings’ first-team defensive line was outstanding, but J.J. McCarthy also completed passes at a high rate and had some nice moments.
Let’s dive into it all, starting with some injury updates.
As camp comes to a close, the Vikings are collectively dealing with some serious bumps and bruises. Players who didn’t participate in Wednesday’s scrimmage included Justin Jefferson, Andrew Van Ginkel, Harrison Smith, Blake Cashman, Harrison Phillips, Jalen Nailor, and C.J. Ham. And then, over the course of the two-hour session, a few other players may have joined that list.
Rookie wide receiver Tai Felton left the field early in practice favoring his hand/arm area. He watched from the sideline for the rest of the afternoon and was seen with a wrap on his left hand afterwards. Later in practice, Jordan Addison also came off the field favoring that same area, but he seemed to be OK. Even if Addison is hurt, he’d have until September 28 to get healthy due to his three-game suspension. The Vikings ended practice with Lucky Jackson, Jeshaun Jones, and Thayer Thomas as the first-team receivers for McCarthy. A move at that position is obviously coming.
Updates: Felton and Addison are apparently OK, and Phillips was traded to the Jets in a stunner.
Also worth noting is that cornerback Jeff Okudah, a projected starter who has struggled to stay healthy during his NFL career, went into the training room during practice with an apparent foot injury.
Left tackle Christian Darrisaw continues to ramp up. Of the seven periods involving the first-team offense, he participated in three of them.
I should preface this by saying that there is no official award for Vikings training camp MVP. But if that existed, I’m pretty confident that it would go to outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard. In a camp where Jefferson hardly participated and Darrisaw didn’t do a ton, Greenard was pretty clearly the best player on the roster on either side of the ball.
Coming off of an excellent 12-sack, 80-pressure first season with the Vikings, Greenard’s motto after the 2024 campaign ended was “more is required.” He showed up to this camp looking like a man on a mission. Greenard was simply unblockable all camp long, whether he was going against Justin Skule or Brian O’Neill or any other tackle. It was fitting that he capped off his camp with another dominant day on Wednesday.
Facing off against the second-team offense, Greenard burst around the right side to “sack” Sam Howell in a blur. Then, going against the 1s, he had a two-play sequence that basically summed up his last month. Greenard read a screen from McCarthy and batted it down, then waved his finger like Dikembe Mutombo. On the very next snap, Greenard got into the backfield again and wrapped up Jordan Mason for a loss. He split another run stop later with Jalen Redmond, then nearly sacked McCarthy in the end zone for a safety during a period where the offense was backed up near its own goal line.
“I think he’s just ready to put the world on notice that he’s one of them ones,” safety Josh Metellus said. “I think the league’s gonna be very shocked to see him take another step and another jump, because he’s already been a hell of a player.”
What a month it’s been of tracking J.J. McCarthy’s performances at these training camp practices. Today was kind of a microcosm of his entire camp: some ups and downs, but with a lot more good than bad. It’s not going to always be smooth or pretty when his “rookie” season begins, but McCarthy’s training camp performance has done nothing to dissuade me from the belief that the Vikings have found their long-term guy at the quarterback position.
On Wednesday, McCarthy started out with a period against the second-team defense where he completed all seven of his throws, one of which was a screen that was negated by a hold. He booted out to the left and hit T.J. Hockenson on his first pass of the day. On another play-action rep, he rifled a ball over the middle of the field to Lucky Jackson through a tight window. On a fourth down after the penalty, he hit Thayer Thomas to move the chains.
McCarthy’s next series, this one against the first-team defense, didn’t go as well. That was the one where Greenard wrecked multiple plays. Dallas Turner, Jonathan Allen, and Javon Hargrave were also impactful in the pass rush, forcing McCarthy to scramble a couple times. At one point, another screen pass was blown up for a sack, causing some visible frustration in the Vikings’ starting QB.
But he bounced back. There was a lot of quick game in this practice, and McCarthy’s most frequent receiver was Thayer Thomas on underneath routes. He also had a couple nice throws to Addison and Josh Oliver during a period against the second-team defense. Then came a red zone period against the 1s where McCarthy did well. He rolled out and found Addison near the goal line. He threw another dart to Addison, who mossed Isaiah Rodgers and ripped the ball away from him in the end zone. He hit Lucky Jackson for a near touchdown.
The Vikings ended the day with a two-minute drill. It was during that period that Addison left, leaving McCarthy without any of his top three wideouts. He connected with Jeshaun Jones a couple times and Hockenson once. And McCarthy then made perhaps his best throw of the day, a perfect floater on the run to Aaron Jones for a 40-yard touchdown… which was wiped out by a holding penalty. After that, he tried to hit Jeshaun Jones in the end zone in the final seconds, but it was broken up.
All things considered, it was another solid day for No. 9 on a heavy volume of reps. He was under plenty of pressure from the D-line and he didn’t push the ball down the field a ton, but his completion percentage was quite high. Once he has all of his wide receivers back, watch out.
Thanks to everyone who has read these recaps over the past month. The regular season is right around the corner.
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