It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for our first injury reports of the week for the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they prepare for their big NFC clash on Sunday in Central Florida. The Vikings’ injury report has some pretty significant concerns on it. We’ll take a look at theirs first as they are the visiting team in this one.
Did Not Participate
- LB Eric Kendricks (calf)
- RB Alexander Mattison (illness)
- TE Kyle Rudolph (foot)
- TE Irv Smith Jr. (back)
Limited Participation
- C Garrett Bradbury (abdomen)
- G Ezra Cleveland (ankle)
- CB Jeff Gladney (calf)
- OT Riley Reiff (ankle)
- DE D.J. Wonnum (ankle/back)
Full Participation
We all know what happened with Kendricks, as he tweaked the calf injury he’s been dealing with in pre-game warmups against Jacksonville and was a very late scratch. Hopefully he’ll continue to get healthy throughout the week.
The bigger issue might be at the tight end position. Both Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith Jr. sat out of Wednesday’s first practice session. With Brandon Dillon going on IR on Tuesday, the Vikings have just one healthy tight end on the roster in Tyler Conklin. There aren’t any tight ends on the practice squad, either, which is odd for a team that likes their multiple tight end sets as much as the Vikings do. Here’s hoping that they have a plan to remedy this here before too much longer.
Mattison is likely going to miss another week or two after having his appendix removed last Saturday.
Let’s take a look at the Tampa Bay injury report.
Did Not Participate
- LB Lavonte David (non-injury)
- CB Jamel Dean (groin)
- WR Chris Godwin (finger)
- DT Steve McLendon (elbow)
Limited Participation
- WR Mike Evans (hamstring)
- LB Jason Pierre-Paul (knee)
- OT Donovan Smith (ankle)
Full Participation
No players listed
Godwin just had pins removed from his finger from an injury he sustained earlier in the year. There’s no reason to think that he won’t play on Sunday, I don’t believe. Mike Evans has been dealing with injuries all year, but if I had to place a wager I’d assume that he’d be out there, too.
Those are your initial injury reports for the Vikings and Buccaneers as they make their preparations for Sunday. We’ll be tracking all of these situations throughout the week.
