Minnesota Vikings News Dump (9.4.2025) | Harrison Back? Oasis Turf. RedZone Commercials?

Minnesota Vikings News Dump (9.4.2025) | Harrison Back? Oasis Turf. RedZone Commercials?

[Music] What’s going on, Jerome? Beautiful Thursday. Birds are chirping and stuff and it’s time for another Vikings news dump. So, we’re we’re only a few days away. Vikings, Bears, Monday Night Football Dun. It’s going to be fantastic. Uh Vikings uh did have practice on Wednesday and not a practice that they have to submit to the injury reports. That’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday for the Monday Night Football. Uh, Gestling Shri go uh Andrew Vankel and Blake Cashman are practicing for the Vikings today. No, Harrison Smith did participate in the walkthrough earlier in the day though. We’ll talk about that. And Elijah Williams, Xavier Scott were working on the side, but every everybody else is here. And Kevin Khan did report uh that everyone participated in the walkthrough, which is good to see. Uh Elijah Williams hamstring, Xavier Scott ankle uh getting a little bit of treatment. Uh still didn’t impede them from making the 53. Uh could be game day scratches. You could make some sense. Who knows? Uh and Andrew Van Ginkle. So AVG sort of flew under the radar like uh like Harrison Smith, he hadn’t practiced since early in August, but glad to see him back on the field. Good to go. And you could see, you know, a lot of veteran loan management with guys like Ven Ginkle, Harrison special situation. Uh Blake Cash outside. How about that? Uh even early in the season, you know, couple easy days in practice. Uh make sure that they’re ready to go on game day. Also, also smooth transition. Uh Kevin Okonnell fed the local media jackals ahead of practice on Wednesday. Uh and this is what he said about Harrison Smith. Emily Lacer strip go. Vikings coach Kevin Okonnell said safety Harrison Smith participated in the team’s walkthrough today, but is still ramping up to to participation in practice itself. And yeah, you talked about how this is a deep team sort of hedging his bets a little bit with the availability of Harrison Smith. also everything with this whole shroud of mystery what’s going on with the Harrison like obviously personal health issue doesn’t have to address it but also the fact that it goes unressed by everyone it just leads to rampid speculation so I you you don’t know what to believe but hopefully Harrison’s good to go him being back in the facility is a good first sign and you know uh also if Harrison does miss it sort of throws the Vikings defense into a loop because if Harrison misses do they bring in carry on my Jayward’s son as a one for one replacement if they still want to roll with three safeties. Theo Jackson obviously still a starter or do they go with Jackson Matelis with Mattelis playing a more traditional safety role then that takes away from him as an extra linebacker takes away from him as a big nickel uh slot cornerback. So I don’t know like Harrison Smith you know beyond just not having him like there’s ripple effects in the rest of that defense. So hopefully 22 is good and hopefully 22 will be on the field on Monday night. Also, Darasaw, uh, Kevin Seafford, ESPN, uh, Vikings left tackle Christian Darasaw recovering from a torn ACL MCL checked all the boxes during training camp. Kevin Okonnell said blah blah blah. Uh, Kevin McConnell’s mentioned several times that the need to be smart when it comes to getting Darasaw back on the field. He’ll take most of it, if not all the reps of practice today, Wednesday. But the decision isn’t just based on week one. So, not not only is it him participating, but also how does the body respond? Is there soreness? Is there anything lingering the next day? So, today is a major day for Darasaw. Could be limited. We’ll see. Uh, but then of course the last two days of practice in this case, Friday, Saturday is going to be the the decider if Darasaw goes week one. And I I feel like a little bit of gamesmanship uh to the Bears like, hey, Dennis Allen, we don’t know if it’s going to be Daras or Justin school. Uh, but also I feel like the lack of anything concrete, you know, what Deros saw the last couple of weeks, everything’s trending positive. I I think that he’ll be good to go week one, right? But a complication with that is Soldier Field being Gavage. So, not only, you know, the ambiance and the fans. Actually, no, I take that back. Uh, Chicago Bears fans are actually pretty cool, so we’ll go with that. Like I’ll go Bears fans and then Lions Packers. Yeah, but I take that back. I like Chicago. There you go. Uh but Persuasion, something to monitor. Chicago, specifically Soldierfield, had an unprecedented weekend in which it hosted five consecutive concerts at the Bears Stadium starting last Thursday. New side is being replaced this week in preparation for Monday night game between the Vikings and the Bears. Soldierfield has had a history of poor field conditions. So there’s a lot of things at play here. Older stadium, yes, they’ve had renovations. You know, they put the spaceship on top of Soldierfield, whatever. Also, you know, late lake effect, so you do have some weird weather. Uh sometimes it affects the drainage and frankly just the climate. It’s not great for turf. Like honestly, if they want to go to that synthetic stuff, I mean, sure, but traditionally, Soldier Field had just been garbage, right? So, I don’t know. Like, it could affect it. Like Kevin Oonnell has even talked earlier in the week about being prepared for footing. So, I feel like that that each player is going to have several different options in terms of cleats uh and footwear. You know, really hyping up Terrell and the Vikings equipment staff. Love that. But, I don’t know. It could be a factor like maybe this turns into just a lowscoring slobber or knocker game and the Vikings just grind that grind the rock uh into and the Bears into submission. Could be possible the Vikings just uh become a running team then the defense is going to be solid good to go. Who knows? But yeah, five concerts during the weekend. It’s ridiculous. And one of the concerts was Oasis. Don’t go away. Yes, go away from her damn field. Like how is this a multi-billion dollar if not near a trillion dollar industry and like every single year it’s like oh we don’t know about the grass? So stupid, so idiotic. Like they can’t figure out playing surfaces. Like look at Premier League, La Liga, like all all of the top flight soccer leagues around around the globe. Most of them play on natural grass. Most of them, including um the Premier League, obviously, you know, play over the winter in northern climates. So, don’t don’t talk to me about weather, even though they don’t really get snow in London or England in general. But, I mean, can’t figure this out. So stupid. Like, oh, just now you’re figuring out how to measure things with microchips as opposed to two old guys with sticks just trottting out all winded. You know what they do? You know what they do that? Because the coaches like it because it gives them extra time off the clock to strategize. Also, the NFL gets more commercial time. That That’s why they keep it around. But this whole field turf thing, field turf can’t maintain grass. It’s ridiculous, man. Go away. Anyways, uh Vikes fan page. Of the 53 players on the Vikings current rooster for weeks for week one, 27 of them were not on the team uh for last season’s final game. More than half the roster was changed for Minnesota heading into the 25 season. And it’s a case of it’s a nature of the beast. It’s a nature of the business. Like it is what it is. You lots of players whether it’s Wentz uh Wentz coming aboard uh or Allen Hargrave. Uh you got Isaiah Rogers coming in as well as offensively you got Diamond Jackson drafted. Ryan Kelly, Will Fry’s free agents, Jordan Mason traded for and you know it’s the nature of the game. Like there is a lot of turnover, pun intended. Uh but also don’t let good be the enemy of great. And the Vikings, I feel like they’re number one in cash spending this off season despite having a rookie uh rookie deal at quarterback, which is kind of amazing. So, the Vikings are certainly going for the pin. And I like and respect what Quy has done for this team. It’s like anything that he can do to try and make this team better, he’s going to do that. That’s the way that we roll. And I don’t know like what’s the league average? It’s probably about that. feel like because every single every single season, every single team is like a one-off where you’re not going to have the same group together again, whether it’s retirements, whether it’s cuts, whether it’s trades, whether it’s free agency. It’s kind of crazy. Yeah. Next. So, this is where we like to be. You know, the Vikings not getting respect early in the season. They’re proving all the haters and losers wrong and then just seeing them flip around. This is Fox 2025 NFL power rankings, which are not the most accurate power rankings in the known universe. But Ralph Vaciano sounds like a fake name. Sounds like witness protection from the mob. Yeah. Uh, so number 15. No. Ralph Aiano is a guy that just magically has a pizza place in Omaha, Nebraska. What you hiding from, Ralph? Yeah. Uh, but Vikings check in at 15. So what are they in the NFC? Una cat sank ce set. We they’re they’re ninth. The hell, man. Behind the Cardinals. What the Cardinals done Texans? Whatever. Whatever. Uh but I I do also I don’t understand this deadass fascination with the Packers. Like even before the Micah Trade, right? I I don’t get it. But I I can’t wait till it falls apart. It’s going to be glorious. Also, so on this channel during the offseason, we we called JJ McCarthy a football psycho in like the absolute best sense of the word. Uh, but Henry McKenna over at Fox Sports, who’s a real person, found that out. A calm, hungry, infectious psycho, the many sides of Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy, and it’s a very long form piece. Uh, go check it out on Fox Sports. It’s really well done, really in-depth, and just a couple excerpts I found awesome. Uh, it’s about forgetting where Soldierfield sits on a map less than 20 minutes uh from McCarthy’s hometown. You know, the whole nerves about him returning Monday Night Football, blah blah blah. It’s about putting aside the conversation about winning the NFC North, winning the NFC, winning the franchise first Super Bowl. It’s even about putting aside the notes he’s taken on Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. On his iPad, McCarthy will have copious color-coded bullet points on Allen’s situational work, his personnel tendencies, his schematic history, his philosophy, his employer history, and more. So all this talk about, you know, like quarterback living at the facility, I feel like JJ McCarthy definitely lives at Brosmer, too. But I mean, McCarthy, I bet you he has a dossier on Dennis Allen going back to his failed stint as Raiders head coach, going back to his failed stint as Saints head coach, like all all of these defensive tendencies. And thi this is psychotic. Like this is odd, but in the very best ways possible. It gets even better. And oh, Mio, I want this to be true so badly because it is so on brand. The legend goes that at Michigan he used to take off in his car on weekend nights, skip the frat parties, and instead meditate by himself in the woods. Like this sounds like a Chuck Norris or Bill Brasi type story, but again, I want this to be true so badly because it is so on brand. It’s amazing. That’s amazing, man. Uh, also, you know, these JJ McCarthy pregame meditation, like, it’s going to hit like crack. You know, ESPN’s just going to have that 8K camera all up in his face. It’s going to be great, man. Also great. Speaking of JJ McCarthy, uh, Purple Persuasion, JJ McCarthy and his fiance, Katya Kuropus, nailed it, are expecting their first child soon, and sources say they have explored a planned induction to avoid mi missing any games. Baby McCarthy could be coming any day. That’s a football guy. That that that’s a football guy and a football fiance/ soontobe wife who just understands the game, right? And I I get it. Like, you know, a true pros pro would have had the baby in the offseason. No, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. Uh, like things get boring in January, I guess. You know what I mean? Cuz when are my kids born? Well, one of them’s birthday is coming up, too. Uh, in the middle of the month, so maybe our January was boring, too. Uh, but congrats again. Um, hopefully everything goes smoothly, happy and healthy. First one’s always amazing and then the second and third one you’re like okay we’ve been there been there just send me the bill that’s it also speak of in the McCarthy corner of the dump uh Chip Scoggins put this out yesterday and we talked about it is hilarious this is JJ McCarthy’s uh this is JJ McCarthy as first NFL game he was four years old the Bears hosted the Vikings that day Monday night will be a full circle moment for McCarthy and his family so he’s rocking the bearclaw he’s got the backwards Bears hat he’s got the Brian and Erlacer jersey 5’4 New Mexico Lobos HOF. Woo, good to see. Uh but but of course we had to look up. So JJ McCarthy was was four years old in 2007. So and it was the Vikings Bears game. So JJ McCarthy his day got ruined by Vikings winning 34 to 31. Adrien Peterson three touchdowns, two 224 rushing yards. Also a longass kick return to set up the game-winning field goal. Ryan Longwell, TJack rest and power. This game had everything, right? And he was just like, “Why can’t Erlacker or Peanut or anyone else tackle 28 and and on that day, JJ McCarthy became a sleeper agent for the Vikings.” That’s right. That day, he learned how to bleed purple. All right. Love to see it. Just I can’t imagine that. Like I I I can’t even remember my first Vikings game. It was definitely a Vikings Packers game because my my dad and I would always would go always go to the home Vikings Packers game every year, but I don’t know was Bert Favore doing something. He’s like, “F that guy. Hope he’s never quarterback of my team.” Uh, also speaking of f that, uh, Ari my sports update, Scott Hansen confirms NFL Red Zone will have commercials in some capacity of the season, which is something he has no control over. The intro will be 7 hours of red zone football start now. All right. It used to be 7 hours of commercial free Red Zone football blah blah blah. But of course, since ESPN, you know, taking over in the merger, I don’t know. Like, how do how do you explain to someone a thousand years from now that Mickey Mouse was the downfall of sports? Mickey Mouse literally ruined sports. And ESPN, the worldwide bleeder of readers, viewers, and subscribers. I don’t know. Like I I I know you get a couple extra pennies out of just putting ads. Like why can’t you do like the Premier League where you know obviously there’s non-stop action in the the two 45 minute halves but then at the top you got ads on the score bug like Hublot Jimmy John’s all that stuff you can just do that as no one even likes these commercials and also you you show the same four commercials over and over and over again till it gets repetitive. No one likes this. Like I feel like this is not Mad Men anymore. Like the attention span of people is is milliseconds now. Like if you want ads, incorporate ads into content. Like like do sponsors that way. Like have Scott Hansen wearing a Quizno shirt or something like that. Have Little Caesars delivered Scott Hansen mid uh you know mid7 hours of commercial free football. do that a as opposed to uh hey here here’s another commercial that you’ve seen 17 times today. Hey, we’ll get him this time. No, they need to rethink that completely rethink the commercial paradigm with today. I mean with today’s like Tik Tok, Instagram blah blah blah um attention spans like stupid stupid. That being said, I don’t really watch Red Zone because um too busy watching the Vikings. And then on the other screen, you’ll have on one singular game. Like I I feel like if I have red zone on, it’s a little bit too distracting. So there you go. Anyways, off the soap box, blah blah blah. Uh so the Vikings have practice today. Talk about practice. Uh we’re going to have official injury reports for the Vikings and the Bears this afternoon as well. And we’re back. We are so back, baby. Damn straight. Anyways, that’s it. That’s a Vikings news dump for this beautiful, glorious Thursday. You guys are the best. You know what to do. Goal production value.

Minnesota Vikings News Dump for Thursday, September 4th.
DONATION LINKS
Venmo: https://venmo.com/purpleftw
CashApp: https://cash.app/$purpleftw1

Become a Channel Member! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Xt29Fi1ES6C1fEtWFUFIw/join

Get Your JEROME Gear! purpleftw.net!

Subscribe for Daily Minnesota Vikings Videos! http://bit.ly/2qO5r7m

#minnesotavikings #vikings