The Minnesota Vikings tumultuous offseason continued Wednesday after wide receiver Jordan Addison suffered an ankle injury at practice.
Addison, who is fresh off a 10 TD rookie season, had to be carted off the field after coming up favouring his ankle following a contested catch. Minnesota, who are currently running joint practices with the Cleveland Browns, can ill afford another offseason blow to their roster following news that rookie QB JJ McCarthy would be out for the season following knee surgery.
“I think he’s going to be OK,” head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters afterwards. While the 22 year old appears to have avoided a worst case scenario outcome, he will nevertheless be held out of practice Thursday and is unlikely to suit for Saturday’s preseason game vs. the Browns.
It’s been a nightmarish offseason for the Vikings thus far. In addition to the injury to McCarthy, rookie cornerback Khyree Jackson passed away in a July 6th car accident. Cornerback Mekhi Blackmon suffered a torn ACL on the first day of training camp, and CB Shaquill Griffin hasn’t practiced since straining his hamstring several weeks prior.
Add in the fact that TE T.J. Hockenson is still recovering from a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee and could start the season on injured reserve, and it’s easy to see why Vikings fans are beginning to think the 2024 NFL season is cursed.
With a little over three weeks until Minnesota opens their season against the New York Giants, the Vikings have reportedly begun to explore trade options to add in some reinforcements to their roster. An earlier report from Vikings training camp indicated that the club had at least inquired about New Orleans Saints QB Derek Carr’s availability, however trade talks don’t appear to have progressed very far as of yet.
Photo: Ramsey County Minnesota. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.