A foot injury that ended E.J. Henderson's season only four games into last year, meant there was never any question about which linebackers would stay on the field when the Vikings brought in a fifth defensive back.

Chad Greenway and Ben Leber saw extensive action in the nickel defense. But with Henderson returning to his middle linebacker spot that's going to change. Two seasons ago, Henderson played at nearly a Pro Bowl level and rarely came out of games. Either Greenway or Leber -- many times it was Leber -- would jog to the sideline when the extra DB came on.

So what will be the plan on Sunday in Cleveland when the Vikings open the regular season? Leslie Frazier, the Vikings defensive coordinator, said there are a few options.

"Ben [Leber] did a good job for us in that role a year ago in E.J.'s absence," Frazier said. "We are going to try to get him in there from time-to-time, either with Chad or even with E.J. We will just try to be conscious of E.J.'s reps throughout the course of the year so he can be fresh when December rolls around. So we still want to utilize Ben in that nickel role."

It will be interesting to see if the Vikings do rest Henderson every now and then in the nickel and leave Greenway and Leber on the field.

Frazier admitted the team could have done a better job of getting Henderson out of games once in a while in 2007. "We didn't [do that] and we paid for it," Frazier said. "So we would like to monitor that and keep an eye on it as we get through the season and see how we are doing. Right now, we would like to be able to monitor his reps."

As for nickel job, the coaching staff said during training camp that there was heated competition for that spot. However, it became clear early that Benny Sapp was going to remain in that role after playing in the nickel the second half of last season.

"I think the fact that [Sapp] finished the season at that position a year ago gave him a slight edge on some of the other guys that were vying for that position," Frazier said. "Also, the fact that he is a lot more poised and composed in what he is doing and much more aware of what we are asking of that position. Probably his experience is the one thing that overtook some of the other guys that wanted to play that position. He's had a great training camp and did a good job in the preseason games. We are looking forward to him playing well this weekend."

On another note, the Vikings are still waiting to hear from an appeals court regarding Pro Bowl defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams and their potential four-game NFL suspensions in the long-running StarCaps case. Frazier, of course, is as interested as anyone to see how this turns out and if he gets his two standouts for an entire season.

"We haven't been told, 'By this date you know you're going to have them, or you don't have them,'" he said when asked if the NFL would inform the Vikings on a weekly basis at what point it won't try to enforce suspensions if the court does rule in their favor. "We haven't been told that. The only thing I can do is just prepare as if we are going to have them. We have a contingency plan if something were to show up that we wouldn't have them. But our approach is that we have them until we are told otherwise and that is how we are going about it."