The Vikings are back in Mankato, so I was planning to do our standard post-practice blog with observations and tidbits from today's practice. The problem is that the biggest observation was that the threat of lighting forced the Vikings to suspend practice 50 minutes in. They waited until about 4:35 p.m. for the skies to clear. They did not, so they basically had a second walkthrough inside.
Before the team was forced to scramble indoors, I did notice that seven Vikings players were sitting out the practice. They have had good health throughout camp, in part because head coach Mike Zimmer has not been pushing them too hard physically with long, full-contact practices. But they apparently suffered a few injuries during Friday's 10-6 preseason win over the Oakland Raiders.
The new Vikings watching from the sideline were defensive tackle Tom Johnson, safety Mistral Raymond, and linebacker Dom DeCicco. Safeties Robert Blanton (hamstring) and Jamarca Sanford (back) remained sidelined. Tight end Chase Ford (foot) remains on the PUP list, but is back out of a walking boot. And nose tackle Linval Joseph (calf) was obviously not practicing this afternoon.
There was a mystery man in a No. 89 jersey on the sideline during practice. We soon found out that it was veteran tight end Kory Sperry, who took the roster spot — and the jersey number — of former Vikings rookie tight end AC Leonard. Sperry was with the Arizona Cardinals last season and played for Norv Turner with the San Diego Chargers. He has nine career catches for 152 yards and a TD.
As for Leonard, Zimmer would not say today why the tight end was waived by the team last week.
In other news, Josh Robinson (hammy) and Marcus Sherels (also a hammy) returned to practice.
