Day Two Of Training Camp

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Gabe Henderson
@GabeAHenderson
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Biggest takeaway from #VikingsCamp Day 2 has to be Wyatt Davis. He’s tough, smart, physical & finishes plays. Excited to see his progression throughout Training Camp. #Vikings

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Kirk Cousins has a big dayIt's not surprising to see the Vikings' quarterback make excellent throws in camp, but the stretch he put together during one 11-on-11 period was particularly impressive. It began with a nice throw to Adam Thielen — right over the outstretched arms of Harrison Smith — after Cousins had rolled out all the way to the right. Then he uncorked a well-placed deep bomb to K.J. Osborn, who beat Cameron Dantzler down the field.
Finally, Cousins made another throw while moving to his right, firing one off his back foot in the face of pressure and dropping it over the top of Xavier Woods and into the hands of Irv Smith Jr. (who may have been called for offensive pass interference on the play if this were a game). It was a little reminder for the fans in attendance that Cousins has the arm talent to make just about every throw you could ask him to make.
It's also worth noting that the Osborn hype train is continuing to roll. That catch deep downfield wasn't his only nice play of the day, and he's been mixing in as the No. 3 WR with the first team while Westbrook is out.
The Vikings' running back depth is impressiveEveryone knows that Dalvin Cook is one of the best running backs in the NFL and will see the lion's share of the touches out of the backfield whenever he's healthy. But Cook has never played every game in a season, so it's important that the Vikings have the depth behind him to withstand losing their star for a game or two. Based on what we've seen over the past couple years and now early on in training camp, that's exactly the case.
Alexander Mattison has been a high-end backup since coming into the league in 2019, and he continues to look as good as an RB can in padless practices, making decisive cuts and bursting into the open field. Ameer Abdullah had some nice reps as a runner and receiver. And the Vikings haven't missed a beat with rookie Kene Nwangwu taking over for Mike Boone, who is now in Denver. The Iowa State product is lightning quick and will look to use that speed to beat out Abdullah for the No. 3 role.
Harrison Smith got Cousins back to end practiceTo wrap up their session on Thursday, the Vikings put their first-team offense and defense on the field in a situational drill in the red zone. Cousins found Tyler Conklin for a short gain, then hurried everyone to the line of scrimmage and called out some adjustments. With less than ten seconds on the clock, the play broke down and Cousins scrambled to his left, floating a pass towards the end zone that was picked off by Harrison Smith when Conklin stopped his route.
It was a little bit of revenge for Smith after he was beaten by Cousins earlier in the practice.

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Other observations

• Kicker Greg Joseph went five for five on field goal attempts in the short-to-intermediate range towards the end of practice. Good to see. He's going to run away with this job if he remains consistent and Riley Patterson doesn't get off the PUP list soon.
• Patrick Peterson made a nice play early on in a 7-on-7 period by breaking up a deep ball intended for Adam Thielen, drawing some big cheers from the crowd.
• Oli Udoh continued splitting first-team reps at right guard with Dakota Dozier. He had a rough rep where he got caught looking at the outside rusher on a stunt and was knocked over by Stephen Weatherly coming up the middle.
• Kellen Mond and Jake Browning continue to duke it out for the backup QB job, with both guys making some nice throws but also having a couple they'd like back. Nate Stanley can safely be counted out of that battle.

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Vikings' Michael Pierce says he's healing quickly and 'anxious' to don pads again
The defensive tackle, the team's top 2020 free-agent signing, strained a calf earlier this summer, but said Thursday he's healing more quickly than trainers anticipated.
By Andrew Krammer Star Tribune JULY 29, 2021 — 6:18PM

CARLOS GONZALEZ, STAR TRIBUNE
Vikings defensive tackle Michael Pierce is both eager and nervous as he returns to football after opting out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19 concerns and rehabbing a calf strain from earlier this summer.
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With a compression sleeve on his left calf, nose tackle Michael Pierce moved around at Thursday's Vikings practice like a 340-pound defender who doesn't expect to miss much more time.

Pierce, the Vikings' top 2020 free-agent signing who opted out last season because of COVID-19 concerns, said he should be healed "soon" from a calf strain he suffered while training in Alabama this summer. After participating in defensive line drills, he's been rehabbing off to the side of practices while mending an injury that wasn't reported until last week.

"I actually injured it three weeks before you guys found out," Pierce said. "So it's doing a lot better, is a lot further along than what Coach and them expected. When I came back from 'Bama and started getting treatments, they were pretty shocked, so that's a good thing."

Coach Mike Zimmer said the Vikings training staff is "taking it easy" with Pierce with over six weeks to go before the Sept. 12 season opener in Cincinnati. Pierce said he wasn't taking it easy this summer when he got injured during agility drills.

"I was doing a little bit too much D-end stuff," Pierce said, "change of direction and all of those little things. We're going to peel back on that next summer, but yeah, I'm feeling pretty good."

Pierce was signed last year to replace nose tackle Linval Joseph. The two worked out together this summer, when Pierce said Joseph "gave me his blessing" as the new anchor in the middle of the Vikings defense.

It's been 18 months since Pierce last donned shoulder pads, in his last game for the Ravens in January 2020, and the anticipation is mounting as he waits on his calf strain to heal.

"It will be a little bit of nervousness, a little butterflies, but I think that happens at any point in camp," Pierce said. "Just anxiousness. I'll probably have to like pull myself back a little bit. I'm itching. If you can't tell, I'm fidgety, but once this calf gets to 100 percent, I'll be able to roll."

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Judd Zulgad

@jzulgad

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Cornerback Bashaud Breeland, a free agent pick up, isn't doing much work yet after undergoing shoulder surgery following last season with Kansas City. That's enabling Cam Dantzler to get extensive first-team reps on the outside.