Notes From Vikings Training Camp 8/2/25

The Minnesota Vikings held another practice this afternoon at TCO Performance Center with lots of fans in attendance.

Brian Flores gave a press conference today talking about Mekhi Blackmon’s and Dwight McGlothern’s development, what he’s seen from Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen since the pads came on, Jonathan Greenard’s improvement, Isaiah Rodgers and his potential role as a kick returner, and Jeff Okudah’s development.

Flores said Okudah is strong in getting his hands on people in press coverage, but it’s about consistency with that, his ability in off coverage and different zone coverages that is a part of his evaluation.

Flores also mentioned that with Hargrave and Allen, he’s learning which alignments they like and overall building chemistry together and along the entire defensive front including linebackers and their ability to change the call and being able to adjust and adapt to that.

Position Drills

Practice opened up again with special teams drills and once again Silas Bolden led the group of punt returners, followed by Rondale Moore and Myles Price. That’s been the order since the start of training camp and so it looks like those are the top contenders for the punt returner job.

Tai Felton was out there as kick returner in the first kick return drills I’ve seen. He muffed his first return but was given another shot and caught the second. Those were the only two kick return reps. It would seem that Felton is the leading candidate for kick returner at the moment, but it’s early and I’m sure there will be others that get opportunities.

In QB-WR individual drills, there was a stretch when Howell, Rypien, and Brosmer all had inaccurate throws in a row in what are normally pretty return completions.

Quarterback Depth Chart

I point out the above because it ties in with a theme so far in training camp that all the backups have been under whelming. It’s not all bad all the time by any means, but worrisome in that there doesn’t seem like the Vikings have a backup at the moment that could bridge the gap reasonably well should McCarthy go down.

Howell has had his share of inaccuracies and picks so far in training camp- along with a few nice throws too- but I don’t come away with the impression that he’d hold up well if called upon. Still a bit tentative at times- although that seemed to improve a bit today- and trying to find his rhythm.

Max Brosmer has been disappointing. He’s thrown several interceptions and is often late processing or getting the ball out on time.

Brett Rypien hasn’t played as much but doesn’t seem in danger of losing his QB3 spot at this point. He’s looked better than Brosmer when he’s been out there but that isn’t saying much.

J.J. McCarthy

The good news is that J.J. McCarthy looked sharp today with a number of nice throws in team drills – including some fairly difficult ones as well. He’s developed a nice connection with Jordan Addison in Justin Jefferson’s absence that’s led to most of J.J.’s highlight throws this past week.

It was mostly 1s vs. 2s today in team drills and Javon Hargrave wasn’t participating today so that helped give McCarthy the time for a couple deeper balls today.

Team Drills

The first-team offense did pretty well overall today- again mostly going against either the 2s or 1s without Javon Hargrave (Harrison Phillips replaced him). In particular they were able to generate some nice runs on multiple occasions with a few good passes mixed in too.

At one point after a longish run by Jordan Mason, rookie Donovan Jackson who had been blocking downfield let out a big roar at the end of the play that was a crowd pleaser.

Christian Darrisaw did not participate in team drills today- Justin Skule replaced him as has been the norm.

T.J. Hockenson was also sidelined with appeared to be a groin injury during team drills. It didn’t appear to be anything major, but he remained on the sideline for the rest of practice. Josh Oliver was out there most of the time in Hockenson’s absence, but Ben Yurosek and Giovanni Ricci got a few reps with the 1s as well.

It seemed like the second and third units got more reps in team drills today, and I’m sure that wasn’t by chance. We might be getting to the point where giving 2s and 3s more reps to see what they have to offer is becoming more important than giving the first team reps- although both remain important as it’s still early.

With the second unit offensive line, Walter Rouse was getting most reps at right tackle and it looked like Henry Byrd was getting a lot at right guard. Jurgens at center, Brandel at left guard, and it looked like mostly Leroy Watson IV at left tackle today, which was a little surprising.

The second unit defensive line it looked like Levi Drake-Rodriquez, Jalen Redmond and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins inside most of the time and Gabe Murphy and Bo Richter on the edges.

Dallas Turner got a lot of reps with the 1s as Andrew Van Ginkel had a lot of reps at off-ball linebacker.

First Fracas

Toward the end of the 11-on-11 period Brian Asamoah gave a pretty good lick to Aaron Jones, knocking straight back to the ground, which prompted a push from Will Fries, which in turn led to a punch from Brian Asamoah. A fracas ensued as the sidelines cleared but things were broken up without too much further incident. However, only a couple plays later Tyler Batty appeared to tackle a running back in the backfield to the ground- he immediately pulled back but too late. That cleared the sidelines again in another fracas and led to an impromptu team huddle on the field led by the coaches to settle things down.

It looked like that may have been the end of practice, but redzone drills followed along with a couple more nice throws by McCarthy and a couple nice PBUs by Rodgers and Okudah.

Reichard Misses a Couple Field Goals

The last period of team drills was basically positioning for a last second field goal. The offense would run a half speed play then the field goal unit would race out there to get the attempt off in time. But Reichard missed two field goals around 40 yards or just under. One held by Wright and one held by Chapman. He made three others but that’s hardly a good field goal percentage- especially from that range.

I’m not sure if Reichard has had a perfect day yet making field goals in team drills. So, a bit of a disappointing start to training camp for Reichard, but hopefully he’ll straighten things out going forward.

Player Standouts

Here are a few players that have stood out, good or bad, during today’s practice and more generally this week.

Jeff Okudah

Okudah may not be winning every rep but he is playing with a lot of confidence and swagger even. He’s had some PBUs and looks to be pushing the limit in terms of contact at times, but he seems comfortable in the scheme and I’m guessing he senses he’s got an opportunity to be CB3 if he plays well.

Dwight McGlothern

McGlothern is another cornerback that is growing in confidence by the day and you can see it on the field. I’m guessing he’s got a chance to pass Mekhi Blackmon and maybe even Okudah on the depth chart, depending on how things play out. Blackmon has not played badly, but he doesn’t appear to have the same confidence/swagger as Okudah and McGlothern at the moment. McGlothern has had some good reps in man coverage as well.

Dallas Turner

Turner is another player who you can see the growing confidence on the field. He looks a little bigger but a lot more aggressive than he was last season. He’s more of a threat as a bull rusher this season but can still get around the edge. Last season, he’d take a couple steps and kinda look at where the play was going and pursue. This season he charges forward and either sets the edge or rushes the passer. Just a lot more to his game.

Chaz Chambliss

Chambliss missed the first several days of training camp but has been getting some notable reps since his return. Today he got a couple first team reps in 7-on-7 drills in coverage. He definitely seems to be a player they want to get a full evaluation on. He’s generally been on the third team at edge rusher, but he’s been getting reps. I dont’ know that he’s stood out so far in the performance, but he’s getting the opportunities.

Max Brosmer

Brosmer has stood out for the wrong reasons. He’s had a few good throws, but those are often between several not-so-good ones. His main problem is that he’s slow. Slow to process and slow to get the ball out. He doesn’t have a ton of zip on out routes, from either near or far hash, and so he’s had at least a few of them picked.

At this point Brosmer is not proving to be a challenge to Brett Rypien for QB3, so that is disappointing.

Sam Howell

Howell looked a little better today- less tentative- so maybe he’ll improve over the coming weeks. But he’s also had inaccuracy issues at times and some picks- although not as many as Brosmer. Howell could get to where he could be a competent backup, but he’ll need the rest of training camp and preseason at least before he gets there.

I’m sure it’s difficult for the new backups learning a new system and/or being new to the league, and then facing Brian Flores’ scheme on top of that, so there are excuses. But there are also clean pocket inaccuracies and picks too.

Donovan Jackson

I can’t claim to have seen every one of Donovan Jackson’s reps, but the ones I have seen he’s looked pretty good. He got blown back by Javon Hargrave, but then again so did Ryan Kelly and probably dozens of other interior linemen over the years. But outside of that, he seems to be holding his own.

Javon Hargrave

Jonathan Allen may be an upgrade, but Hargrave is a beast. He is going to be a problem every week for opposing offensive interior linemen. He wins in very simple and predictable fashion. He’s the low man, gets under the offensive lineman’s pads and drives him back with his tremendous core and lower body power. He really needs to be double-teamed to be stopped and doing so will open up a big hole for a blitzer to run right through.

Hargrave didn’t participate in team drills today but was virtually unstoppable when he played earlier this week. One wonders if they kept him out so the offense could function better.

Backend of Wide Receiver Depth Chart

After Jefferson, Addison, Nailor, and Felton there is a big competition for probably only one more permanent roster spot and maybe one temporary one if Addison is suspended.

Who gets the permanent spot is almost certainly the winner of the punt returner competition. My guess is that will be either Silas Bolden or Rondale Moore, with Myles Price as more of a long shot.

But there are a total of nine wide receivers competing for the one permanent and maybe one temporary spot. Those include Moore, Bolden, Price, Lucky Jackson, Dontae Fleming, Jeshaun Jones, Tim Jones, Thayer Thomas, and Robert Lewis.

Of those, Moore, Bolden, Price, and Fleming have exceeded my expectations. Jackson and Jones have roughly met expectations, while Jones has been a bit below expectations. Thomas just got some noticeable reps today but stands no chance to make the roster. The same is true of Lewis who has hardly had any reps.

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That’s it for today’s coverage. I’m getting late word that tomorrow’s practice has been changed to a walk-through so no media access and this one isn’t open to the public either so next report will be from the night practice on August 4th.

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