Sports
Vikings Territory: Vikings Training Camp Marred By Bad News After Optimistic First Three Days
New kicker Greg Joseph had a perfect second day at camp. Michael Pierce's calf injury was revealed as minor.
August 4, 2021
The Minnesota Vikings 2021 training camp started off with a bang, showcasing a happy edition of Mike Zimmer along with a rookie Kellen Mond who was delivering bombs to fellow rookie, Ihmir Smith-Marsette. Third-year offensive line lineman Oli Udoh was scaling the depth chart for a crack at the RG1 gig. New kicker Greg Joseph had a perfect second day at camp. Michael Pierce’s calf injury was revealed as minor.
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On Saturday, news hit the wire that WR3-WR4 Bisi Johnson was lost for the 2021 season with a torn ACL. He was injured the day before in practice but returned with a leg brace. Ordinarily, Johnson’s injury would sully a good first few days of camp – but that development was only the tip of the iceberg for awful news.
Well, that was the fallout of a budding COVID vaccination ordeal. Those three quarterbacks are evidently unvaccinated. So when Mond contracted the coronavirus, down went Cousins and Stanley for the NFL’s close-contact safety protocols.
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When “team vaccination percentages” were unveiled a couple of weeks ago, the Vikings were not mentioned as offenders. The most egregious bunch was the Washington Football Team. Ron Rivera’s team since rallied, vaccinating 84% of players. Replacing the Football Team was the Vikings or so the reports mentioned yesterday.
The New York Giants had a widely-reported fight in practice this week that involved quarterback Daniel Jones. Then, the Indianapolis Colts lost two important players, Carson Wentz and Quenton Nelson, to spookily similar injuries for 5-12 weeks. Those teams have arguably encountered more turmoil than the Vikings, but that is severely debatable. Zimmer’s smiles from last Wednesday and Thursday have morphed into vocal frustration about the vaccine stuff. In that regard, his straightforwardness has returned as Zimmer is not known for diplomatic words on Vikings matters.
But that’s a big to-do list.
This press release was produced by Vikings Territory. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
