The bye week is officially over for the Minnesota Vikings, and they’ve gotten back to work on this Monday with some pretty significant news.
The team has opened the practice window for linebacker Blake Cashman, opening the path for him to return to the middle of the Vikings’ defense as early as this Sunday, when the purple host the Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Cashman was injured in the fourth quarter of the season opener, when he pulled up lame while chasing Bears’ quarterback Caleb Williams on a scramble attempt. The team placed him on injured reserve with a hamstring injury after that, and now that he has missed his mandatory four games, he can finally start making his way back to the roster.
The Vikings opening up Cashman’s practice window now means that they have 21 days to move him to the active roster. Should the Vikings, for whatever reason, decide not to bring Cashman back to the active roster at some point during those 21 days, he will revert to being on injured reserve and his season will be over. Barring some sort of setback, however, it’s hard to imagine the team not bringing him back as soon as they can.
Minnesota’s run defense could use the boost from Cashman’s presence, particularly with games coming up against Philadelphia, Detroit, and Baltimore over the next few weeks. Those teams all have solid running games, and that’s an area where the Vikings have had their issues in the early part of the season.
The team is also looking to get offensive linemen Donovan Jackson and Michael Jurgens back at practice, as they’re both coming off injuries as well.
There is also a bit of mystery at the quarterback spot, where the team will apparently take most of the week to determine whether or not they’ll start J.J. McCarthy or Carson Wentz against the Eagles. Both are dealing with injury concerns, with McCarthy still rehabbing the high ankle sprain he suffered in the Week 2 loss against Atlanta, while Wentz is dealing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, an injury he suffered just before halftime of the Vikings’ win over the Cleveland Browns in London.
It sounds like the Vikings might be getting some of their top players back at a few positions. Again, most folks (including myself) aren’t fans of an early bye week, but it appears to have come at a pretty good time for our favorite squad.
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