The Minnesota Vikings play their first preseason game of the season on Sunday August 14th. The Vikings travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders who are 1-0 in preseason. There are some looming questions going into the game. The two biggest concerns are at center and backup quarterback. The Vikings will be the last team to play a preseason game Sunday with their opponent the Raiders playing in the Hall of Fame game.
Who Will Play In Preseason
Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings have yet to announce if any of the starters will play and for how long if they do. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins tested positive for COVID and will not play against the Raiders.
With Cousins out, Sean Mannion and Kellen Mond now have a chance to prove themselves to coaches and their teammates Sunday. While Kevin O’Connell has yet to announce which quarterback will be starting, he has said that he expects to give them a 50/50 split in the reps Sunday.
Backup Quarterback
Kirk Cousins was sent home early from practice yesterday (August 11th). With him now missing a few days of practice both Mond and Mannion will be taking first team snaps during his absence. Both Mannion and Mond have struggled so far at camp. During practice today (August 12th) Mannion and Mond were splitting reps early on before Mannion began taking the majority of 1st team reps while Mond worked with the backups. If this starts to stay consistent, it seems that Mannion will end up claiming the number two spot on the depth chart beating out Mond. With three preseason games quickly approaching, Mond and Mannion still have plenty of time to fight it out for the number two spot. For now, it looks like Mannion may have the current edge in the competition.
Center
Kevin O’Connell announced back in early August that the Vikings would be holding competitions for the center position. Center Garrett Bradbury has struggled a lot at camp. The concerns with Bradbury really began to stand out during their first practice. Many noticed his struggles, though this isn’t the first time he has had issues in Minnesota.
Chris Reed has moved over to center and has been taking practice snaps. Other centers currently on the roster are Austin Schlottmann and Josh Sokol. The Vikings have also said they are interested in trading for a center. There has been no reports of a specific player or team that the Vikings have been interested in talking to. The Vikings do have enough cap space to look at signing a free agent. At the top of the list of current available centers is JC Tretter, though he has had some injury issues in the past.
Other Position Battle Updates
Other position battles to note before the preseason game Sunday are right guard and defensive end. Jesse Davis appears to have taken the lead in the battle for right guard. After being signed this offseason, Davis’ experience looks to be getting him the starting nod week 1. His competition is rookie Ed Ingram out of LSU. While there is no guarantee that Davis keeps the job all season, he is currently looking to take the starting job. Armon Watts looks to be taking control of the open left defensive end position. In a contract year, Watts has a lot of incentives to perform well. Last year he had 5.0 sacks and ten quarterback hits in nine starts. His competition is Jaylen Twyman who missed his rookie season due to a gunshot wound.
A Bright Spot
Kicker Greg Joseph has had a fantastic training camp. He ended practice yesterday by hitting a 60-yard field goal. Special team’s coordinator Matt Daniels even made the comment a few weeks ago that Joseph is going to have the best season of his career. Hopefully this is how Joseph plays in the regular season, because as Viking fans know it would be awesome to have a good kicker after missing someone reliable the last few years.