Minnesota Vikings News Dump (9.30.2025) | O’Neill MCL Sprain, Vikes in London, Harrison Pitch Count

Minnesota Vikings News Dump (9.30.2025) | O’Neill MCL Sprain, Vikes in London, Harrison Pitch Count

[Music] What’s going on to Romes? A beautiful Tuesday. Birds are indeed chirping and stuff and it’s time for another Vikings news dump. So, the Minnesota fine Vikings putting Ireland behind us, moving on to England uh and London. Vikings Vikings in London. Travel day yesterday. And uh they’re they’re going to keep it to a normal work week. So, Monday, Tuesday, maintenance meetings. uh Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practice and then game on Sunday. So, it’s going to be relatively normal. Uh plus the body clocks synchronizing for six hours ahead uh for London time. It’s going to be good. I think the Vikings are going to be settling in. And of course, the Vikings history in London pretty good, right? So, 4-0 for Mike Yo. 2013 beating the Steelers would have been nice this year, but 2017 uh incidentally beating the Browns. Good times. 2022, doink against the Saints and 2024, uh, Gilly picking off Aon Rogers to get the dub, uh, over there in Tottenham Stadium. And Tottenham, I don’t know, man. Like, I I still have an issue with artificial turf, but and it is what it is, but Tottenham has been a pretty damn good uh, American football stadium. I I think it’s a soulless monolith when it comes to English Premier League football, but it’s right. that fits Tottenham Liverpool. Yeah. Uh so should be good to go for Sunday. Also good to go. You guys have been crushing it. Margaret Rockco’s walk-athon through October 15th. All Venmo’s cash apps will be donated. School fundraiser. Uh we’ll see we get Margaret to be the uh fundraising leader. Three out of four years. I’m pretty sure she got screwed that one year. She didn’t win. Not gonna lie. Yeah. But uh thank you in advance. You guys have been uh doing the damn thing. Awesome. Also, if uh if I don’t plug this, I I think producer Ally may run me over with a car. Wait, no, probably shouldn’t talk about that. Anyways, but uh Purple For International Games sale, 10% off uh 10% off everything using promo code over there. Purplefw.net link is down in the description runs through October 7th. Also, story of the day yesterday was waiting on words and we had candles out Brian O’Neal, please be okay. So Brian O’Neal got basically basically the Steelers e with Andrew Depala before he was able to defend himself. Shoved him right into Brian O’Neal’s right knee on a field goal which who gets injured on a field goal and you know Brian O’Neal out there you know screaming in pain and agony. You you were worried about the worst but apparently probably the best case scenario. All right, wrap sheet. The M uh Brian O’Neal’s MRI has confirmed uh sprained his MCL on Sunday, taking him off the field. He’s weak to week, but no surgery is required. Coach Kevin Okonnell has indicated this was the case. Also, I like Brian O’Neal fist up. Looked like Jud Nelson at the end of Breakfast Club. Don’t you forget about Brian O’Neal. And as we talked about, I mean, over the weekend, maybe I was a little bit frustrated, right? But I I know that we are the the positivity guy with everything and through all the Vikings injuries, especially along the offensive line, they’re all short-term injuries, right? Ryan Kelly concussion, Donovan Jackson, wrist surgery, Brian O’Neal sprain, MCL. Now, when it comes to TBD if it’s grade one or grade two, but I’m leaning towards grade one because they’re saying no surgery, no uh injured reserve, so that rules out grade three, which usually requires surgery and also might be a season ender, but even grade two uh blah blah blah blah blah blah, it takes four to six weeks to heal with rice, which that’s how Asians heal everything. Yeah. U four to six weeks, uh grade one typically two to three weeks. So, could be something there. And if he misses a couple weeks, even though the Vikings have had a myriad of injuries along the offensive line, everything could come together week seven or eight, right? Say conservatively O’Neal doesn’t need surgery, doesn’t go on IR, he returns week eight or week nine, right? And Jackson’s going to be back week seven. Ryan Kelly with concussion. I still think he should retire, but he he’ll miss the Browns game. He’ll have the by-week and then he’s back for Philly. So, the Vikings could actually actually get their legitimate starting offensive line together week seven or eight and you know, week seven Philly. Also, that could coincide with the return of JJ McCarthy. So, JJ McCarthy may finally be together with his offensive line, which would be kind of great. And Mark Craig Strip, and sorry JJ fans, why are we JJ fans if we just want our team to have a good quarterback? Uh but with this decimated offensive line, things would only get worse if McCarthy stepped in right now. Now, luckily they may that might not be the case where hey, McCarth All right, so Wentz starts against Browns full week, full extra week for the buy and then JJ’s high ankle sprain is good to go. Week seven against the Eagles. But why you throwing them against Eagles? Got to start somewhere. H do you see any Northwestern states on the schedule? All right. And also Darasaw by week maintenance good to go. Uh Donovan Jackson back, Ryan Kelly back, Will Fry remains, Brian O’Neal potentially back. Woo baby baby could certainly have a stego going in week seven, right? So even though the Vikings have had B just horse bleep luck when it comes to injuries, all is not lost. And I I still feel like the Vikings have time still early in the season. Yes, the first quarter of the year is done, which I I miss 16 game season because everything could be quarter half quarter three quarters full versus Well, uh the first quarter of the fifth game is actually the first quarter of the Shut up. Yeah, but there’s a lot of moving parts, but nothing comes easy. It’s never easy with this team, right? Uh, and also, um, so Jeff Schwarz, former NFL offensive lineman, former Viking for a cup of coffee, also brother of Mitchell Schwarz. You may may have heard of him. Uh, but talking about just bad offensive line play across the league. They used to have this thing called training camp. We practice a ton, like twice a day in full pads. It stinks. I’m not saying we need to return to those days, but practice in pads to help develop offensive linemen. Yes, he’s absolutely right. Where, you know, it’s funny. Remember last year when Kevin McConnell was said that they’re stressing physicality and you saw that to a degree, right? And this year the same. But if you think about it, you know, the first team offensive line didn’t have a ton. Well, they didn’t have any game reps together whether in preseason or otherwise because of Darasaw uh working his way back and they had very limited practice reps together like full padded practice reps, right? because all all these guys O’Neal, Kelly, Darasaw, we’re getting veteran days and there has to be a balance where you’re resting guys, you’re trying to prevent injury in training camp the best that you can. You don’t want to overt tire, over fatigue players either, but also you got to be able to get things done, right? And yeah, it’s going to be nice if the offensive line’s back together week seven or eight, but is that too late where they do not have this built-in chemistry? They do not have these communication skills going on. They don’t know how to play as a unit. And you know, win, lose, or draw. Like that was one of the things that was good about these longass training camps, these two a days. I mean, hell, the NFL used to have six preseason games. Now, I’m not saying obviously not saying we need to go back to that. And that’s why I always push against when people poo poo preseason games. Well, do you want preseason and preseason or do you want preseason the first month of the season because that’s what you’re going to get if you cut out preseason, right? So, obviously can’t go back in time and change things, but this could be a data point for Kevin McConnell to use in the future. Oh, Courtland Sutton. Let’s go. Yeah, I I was like recording these dumps the night before because randomly I get to sweat my fantasy teams or my prize pick wagers, which I don’t know. Obviously, not advocating and entertainment purposes only, but it’s a lot of fun. Anyways, also a lot of fun is beating the Browns ass. So, it’d be nice if the Vikings could actually beat the Cleveland Browns one time. Uh the Packers couldn’t do it. It’s not for everybody. Uh Daniel Oy Fousey, uh ESPN beat writer for Cleveland. Uh Browns plan to fly to London after their Wednesday afternoon practice in Cleveland and then practice Thursday, Friday in the UK ahead of their game five, week five game against the Vikings. So basically, they’re doing things a day earlier uh than what the Vikings have traditionally done in the Kevin Con regime for international travel, which you know could give them an extra day to get acclimated to the time zone. The Vikings still have the advantage in that regard. also the guy Stfansky which see I I love trotting down conspiracy theories because this one’s actually true where have pretty good authority right that so the Vikings 2019 they won the they won the wild card game down New Orleans was awesome right but if the Vikings had lost that game Zimmer was going to be fired and the Vikings weren’t going to elevate Kevin Stfansky who was OC at the time right and well Zimmer was going to fired or potentially traded to Dallas, which Jerry Jones was dragging his feet deciding on a new head coach until it was clear that after Zimmer and the Vikings won the wild card game that they were going to hang on to Zim and then Jerry Jones hired Mike McCarthy, right? So that there was going to be a lot of moving parts there. So Vikings lose that wild card game in New Orleans. Zimmer is fired or traded to Dallas and Dallas does not hire Mike McCarthy and the Vikings elevate Kevin Stfansky which Sans Stfansky was ultimately hired by the Browns won coach of the year in 2020. Actually he won coach of the year twice. That’s how bad the Browns are. But what could have been man? I was elected and respected Kevin Sansky. Like Stfansky was an assistant with the children’s regime. Stayed on through Leslie Frasier stayed on through the Zimmer regime. you know how well respected you have to be and how how much you’re getting after to be able to survive two regime changes. It’s crazy, man. Yeah. Uh but uh Pelisero asked several times if he’s sticking with jumping Joe Flacco as the starting quarterback. Browns coach Kevin Stfansky says it’s not about uh not about one person. My focus is on making sure this offense plays better. I it hasn’t been good. Not ruling out committing to a change. They face the Vikings in London on Sunday. Now, this is going to be good. So, either Brian Flores and this defense has a get-right opportunity uh where they’re going to be facing a 75-year-old quarterback who’s had eight turnovers this season and seems like so long ago that Vikings fans were clamoring for Flacco and there was a wink nudge agreement of, “Hey, Joe, don’t sign anywhere until the comp pick window is closed, then we’ll sign you.” Then he decided to sign with the Browns because, you know, he had a shot to start. Don’t blame him. Same same reason why Daniel Jones uh joined the Colts. Don’t blame him. Uh but the Vikings either get to face the leftovers of Joe Flacco, Dylan Gabriel, who’s left-handed and bad, and Shador Sanders, College Football Hall of Fame retired number at the University of Colorado, fifth round pick. Everything’s coming up. Milhouse, right? because obviously any given Sunday, obviously all games are tough, but this is pretty much as close to a must-win as a as a week five game can be, right? The Vikings, the world is going to be so much better if you head into the buy at 3 and two, especially if you win impressively over in London. That that’s your turf, man. You’re 4 and0. And get ready for this gauntlet. Everybody gets healthy. JJ McCarthy is back under center and away we go. But please, please, please, please, just can we get a couple defensive touchdowns? Can we get a couple couple sacks, couple pressures, maybe a little diamond Dallas Turner, Jonathan Grard, legacy game? Andrew Van Gel actually plays. It’d be good. Yeah. Speaking of playing, Will Raget Sports Illustrated talking about Vikings veterans. Adam Thelen played just 12 of 76 offensive snaps for the Vikings on Sunday. That’s 16%. Did catch two third down conversions. Harrison Smith played 17 to 53 on defense, 32% reduced roles for a couple franchise legends and the team’s two oldest players other than the long snapper, Andrew Depollo Bagels. All right. And so Theon’s usage doesn’t really surprise me, especially with Addison back where the Vikings, you know, Addison’s obviously wide receiver too. Naylor deserves to be wide receiver three. Uh I think Naylor has been pretty consistent uh the first quarter of the season and Thelen this is what his role was envisioned to be just a situational red zone third down short yardage type guy right and with Harrison so you didn’t know if his snaps were curtailed in the Bengals game because that’s by by design or if that was just because the game became a blowout right uh but 32% of the snaps on defense I mean, him not being out there is one of the reasons why the run game struggled. Uh, not just because Harrison Smith is is solid against the run, but also properly lining up the defense. That’s where they also miss Cashman. That’s where they also miss Andrew Van Ginkle. So, I think the return of those three or the return of AVG as well as Cashman plus the bumping up of Harrison Snaps eventually, I think that will do a lot of good for stopping the run. Maybe we trade for Harrison Phillips again. I don’t know. I don’t know, man. Speaking of trading, so there have been some speculation that hey, maybe the Vikings make a trade along the offensive line as they deal with all these injuries. But, uh, a player that who the Vikings traded for last year after Darasaw went down Cam Robinson, formerly of the Jaguars, uh, he signed with with the Texans this off season and also factors into the competitor pick formula pretty good. And apparently, uh, Vikings are not trading for him. So, the Texans have traded Cam Robinson to the Browns. So, we have Cam Robinson revenge game this weekend and the Browns have been dealing with a lot of offensive line injuries themselves. So, it was a late round like six, seven pick rounds uh picks up. So, the Texans they they signed CJ Gardner Johnson and then they cut him and now they get traded Cam Robinson. You go. Uh, Arante Ursery, former Gopher, was taking over at left tackle. And it’s kind of funny watching this, too, because I don’t know, Cam Robinson, he tried so hard but got so far last season, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. All right. And with the Vikings, I’ve traded for Cam Robinson again. I don’t know. But it’s all right. The options not on the table anymore. And just for schnits and giggles. So I I was looking at the Texans offensive line mainly because of Woody Marks the pride of USC. N rocking things for the my fantasy team. But this one’s surprising. So Jacob Tex uh Texans writer Ed Ingram is the highest graded offensive guard in the NFL through four weeks via PFF. Ingram is first in overall grade 85.6. Neck closest is 76.3. round blocking grade 90.6, next closest is 82.3. He was the highest grade Texan vers Tennessee with 88.9 overall grade. Now, I feel like PFF is just trolling us at this point, right? And yes, the Vikings essentially traded Ed Ingram for a six round pick. Use that sixth round pick to trade for Jordan Mason. So, Ed Ingram for Jordan Mason still pretty good deal, right? And for whatever reason, Ed Ingram, it just didn’t worked out. It just didn’t work out. like so many opportunities, so many over and over and over and over again just don’t work out here. I’m glad it’s worked out for him with with the Texans, but also this could be a case of everything sucks about the Texans offensive line and Ingram is slightly better than average. So that makes him a superstar. Again, I feel like this is PFF just absolutely trolling the Vikings. It’s like, hey, you’re all your offensive line sucks and your your cast off Ed Ingram, he’s looking pretty good. So, what whatever at this point. Anyways, that’s it. That’s it at uh Vikings Tuesday. Tuesday Vikings news up. I I can’t look at Ed anymore. There you go. Uh you guys are the best. O to do skull production value.

Minnesota Vikings News Dump for Tuesday, September 30th.

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