The Minnesota Vikings held a slightly shorter practice Thursday that many assumed wouldn’t happen at all.
While the team has yet to address the sequence of events Thursday morning, reports from KFAN radio, which was broadcasting live from TCO Performance Center during the team’s scheduled walkthrough, indicated that Vikings coaches were waiting on the field but players never showed up to join with other teams that boycotted events following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc.
Later in the day, Eric Kendricks confirmed with NFL Network that the team held two hours of discussions that Kendricks called “emotionally draining.” The Vikings, however, did go through with their afternoon practice as roughly a third of the league canceled. As we await further details on the team’s response to current events, here were the bullet points on Thursday’s practice:
- Danielle Hunter missed his 10th straight practice.
- Dakota Dozier continued getting most of the first-team left guard reps.
- Cameron Dantzler continues getting first-team reps on the boundary within the Vikings’ nickel defense.
- Justin Jefferson had a strong day during 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s, snagging several grabs over the middle of the field.
- UDFA Myles Dorn has been the latest safety prospect to see second-team reps in consecutive days.
Zone Coverage will have coverage of the Vikings’ social justice response with head coach Mike Zimmer planning to speak later Thursday afternoon.