Notes from the Vikings’ First Padded Practice

A few observations from Monday’s practice

I made my way down to TCO Performance Center for the Minnesota Vikings’ first padded practice of the 2025 edition of training camp. It was a hot one- 90+ degrees when the Vikings took the field for their 2:30pm practice.

I’ll take a chronological approach to notes on the practice, starting with position drills and moving on to team drills later.

Punt Specialists

The first activities I noticed were the punt returner drills that started before practice and included Silas Bolden, Myles Price, Dontae Fleming, Jalen Nailor, Rondale Moore, Tai Felton, and Lucky Jackson back fielding punts from both Ryan Wright and Oscar Chapman.

Punt Returner Pecking Order

Once practice officially started, the punt returners were back at it. Silas Bolden got the most reps and was the first one to take reps, followed by Rondale Moore and Myles Price. Tai Felton was with a group doing gunner drills at that point. But based on the early pecking order, it looks like Silas Bolden, Rondale Moore and Myles Price- in that order- are the main competitors for the punt returner job. There wasn’t enough to determine who did better in these drills.

Punter Competition

Both Wright and Chapman practiced spiral and vertical end-over-end punts and punting out of bounds inside the ten yards line or settling inside the ten. Both had a couple touchbacks but Chapman did better angling punts out of bounds inside the ten. Wright had a couple go out of bounds well before the ten. Chapman punted a few of his banana punts, the last of which led to a drop by Silas Bolden at the tail end of the drill. Bolden was the only one to field Chapman’s banana punts, which are more difficult to catch because of the helicopter motion of the ball. Wright does not have the banana punt in his arsenal to my knowledge.

This looks like a legitimate punter competition that will come down to control and ball placement. Chapman has shown one more tool in his bag and did at least as well as Wright in terms of ball placement from my vantage point.

Injury Updates

Mostly good news on the injury front as Will Fries was suited up and playing with the 1s in team drills. Christian Darrisaw was suited up but did not partake in team drills. Rondale Moore looks 100% with no issues or restrictions.

Also, UDFA signing #57 OLB Chazz Chambliss came off the PUP list today and was at practice. He was out there with the 2/3s in team drills off the right edge. That leaves only sixth-round pick TE Gavin Bartholomew as the only player on the PUP or NFI list at this point. He is dealing with a back injury.

Harrison Smith was back after apparently missing Saturday’s practice. Justin Jefferson was in jersey and shorts having a good time on the field observing, tossing a football with Kevin O’Connell, coaching receivers a bit on the side, and showing no signs of any injury.

The one big question is Isaiah Rodgers. I did not see him at practice today and apparently he missed Saturday’s practice as well. Not sure if it is injury-related or what. I haven’t heard anything on his absence from the coaching staff at this point.

NOTE: Kevin Seifert with ESPN reported that Rodgers was off on a side field rehabbing an undisclosed injury. No word on when he’ll return to team practice.

Position Drills

Not too much else of value to report on position drills that I saw, good or bad.

Team Drills

The big takeaway from team drills in today’s first padded practice was that the defense won. Neither the first or second team offense did much today or came remotely close to the endzone today- they didn’t even make it to plus territory.

So, no long bombs by J.J. McCarthy today or really anything other than short completions. He would’ve been sacked at least twice and apparently Jonathan Greenard had his way with Justin Skule and the defensive line generally won the trenches. I couldn’t tell for sure who got credit for simulated sacks, but there were at least 2-3 of them. It was Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave on the interior (Harrison Phillips getting reps too) along with Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard off the edge for the 1s up front defensively, along with Cashman and Pace at linebacker that were getting pressure today most of the time.

But outside of potentially throwing the ball away- which I’m not sure is a thing in 11-on-11s- McCarthy didn’t really have any mistakes either. I’m not sure he missed open receivers before the pressure got home, and he did not have any interceptions.

Which is more than Sam Howell can say, who had one in 11-on-11s.

The narrative on Howell so far is that he’s been underwhelming and there was nothing to contradict that narrative today. He did have some completions including in a tight window to Rondale Moore, but still seems tentative. He also missed a couple deep balls to end team drills, one overthrown and the other a little inside and behind it appeared, with no play on the ball.

McCarthy’s best pass of the day was this one to Jalen Nailor in front of Mekhi Blackmon:

Man Coverage

The other thing of note during 11-on-11s today was that the defense played almost all man coverage today, both first and second team defense. I don’t know that it was good in every instance but combined with the pressure up front it got the job done most of the time. Not many completions other than of the dump-off variety today- the out route to Nailor above being probably the best among them.

Miscellaneous Player Notes

• Jeff Okudah had more good than bad reps but some of both. He had a nice rep against Tai Felton in team drills but also got beat deep once by Dontae Fleming. My narrative on Okudah is that he’s good in press coverage but if he doesn’t have a good rep or is in off coverage, he doesn’t have the speed to stay in-phase with most receivers. Fleming had just a step on Okudah on the deep completion- and it was a nice catch by Fleming- but Fleming is hardly a top receiver in the league.
• #29 CB Dwight McGlothern had an interception in 7-on-7 drills working against Rondale Moore on a poor pass from Max Brosmer. Brosmer was late on the throw and McGlothern was waiting for it. He also caused the tip that led to the Jay Ward interception of Sam Howell’s throw in team drills. Pretty solid first padded practice for McGlothern- perhaps the best among cornerbacks today at least.

• #34 CB Zemaiah Vaughn had some nice reps today in coverage and others have reported him having a good off-season so far. He gets a lot of second-team reps and while he’s made some nice plays, he’s been inconsistent- getting beat deep against Addison on Saturday for example. Still, someone who could potentially make the back end of the cornerback depth chart if he has special teams value.
• #37 Tavierre Thomas is playing safety so far rather than slot corner on defense. He has a lot of experience at slot corner but it looks like the Vikings see him playing at safety and potentially moving down to play slot corner as needed. He’s also a core special teamer. But if Thomas is considered part of the safety depth chart, that potentially opens a spot on the cornerback depth chart.
• #27 Jordan Mason had a few targets out of the backfield today but dropped one of them. Aaron Jones did too. But the Vikings likely want to give Mason more exposure as a receiver to fill out his skillset.
• #62 Logan Brown got some reps at left tackle, although Walter Rouse did earlier as well with the 2/3s.
• #60 Joe Huber was playing both left and right guard with the 2/3s
• #79 Marcellus Johnson, who is listed as a tackle, got some reps at left guard with the 2/3s.
• Looked like #68 Henry Byrd got some reps at right guard with the 2/3s.
• #49 TE Giovanni Ricci was out there with the 2s at one point, although #48 Ben Yurosek and #46 Bryson Nesbit were also out there later too.
• #81 Lucky Jackson had some good reps today.
• Levi Drake-Rodriquez and Jalen Redmond are the second-team defensive tackles with Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and Taki Taimani getting some reps too.

That’s all I have from this practice. I’ll be back at TCO Performance Center in a few days and in the meantime will keep you updated with news from Vikings training camp.

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