EAGAN, Minn. — The injury that has sidelined Minnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr since early August could put him in jeopardy of missing the team’s Week 1 NFL game at Cincinnati.
Barr has not practiced since Aug. 5 with an undisclosed injury. Following the Vikings’ 12-10 loss to Indianapolis, coach Mike Zimmer did not reveal what is keeping Barr sidelined but said the injury is not related to the season-ending pectoral muscle tear the linebacker sustained two weeks into the 2020 season.
According to co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Adam Zimmer, the uncertainty surrounding Barr’s injury puts his availability into question for the opener.
“Today I can’t tell you if he’s going to be ready Week 1 or not,” Adam Zimmer said on Tuesday. “He’s doing everything he can rehabwise to get back in there. Hopefully we have him Week 1. If not, we’ll have somebody step in and play for us.”
While Barr rehabs behind the scenes, the Vikings will look to use various sub packages within their linebacking corps if necessary.
“We’ll work through that, whether it be playing a different package or one of the guys we have on the roster,” Adam Zimmer said. “Troy’s [Dye] played multiple positions for us before. Chazz [Surratt] can play multiple positions, and I thought Blake [Lynch] did a nice job the other night against the Colts. It was his best performance since we’ve had him. So, we’ll find a role and find the best way to match up in our base personnel that way.”
Teams are not required to disclose injury information until the Week 1 of the regular season. If Barr’s injury is still an issue in two weeks, it will be noted publicly for the first time on Sept. 8.
“He’s not a concern as a football player. He’s a concern maybe a little bit with his health,” Mike Zimmer said Saturday. “So we’re taking that with real kid gloves. But we miss him out there. We can do so many different things with him that allows the rest of the guys — plus he does a great job of communicating to everybody. So we’re just being cautious with him.”
