Starters Teddy Bridgewater, Sharrif Floyd, Terence Newman and Eric Kendricks each appeared to make progress toward returning to action Wednesday as the Vikings began preparations for the Raiders on a decent news day overall on the injury front.
However …
Outside linebacker Anthony Barr could only stand and watch the full-padded practice with a cast on his left hand. Coach Mike Zimmer wouldn't reveal the results of Barr's X-rays Monday, but he did say at the time that he felt Barr would be "good to go" Sunday in Oakland.
Meanwhile, Kendricks, the middle linebacker, was in uniform and working out off to the side during the open part of practice. Kendricks, who missed all of last week's practices and Sunday's win over the Rams (ribs), was listed as not participating in practice, but it was encouraging to see him running, changing direction and working with a medicine ball with head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman. Kendricks wasn't able to do any of that last week.
Bridgewater (concussion), Newman (concussion) and Floyd (knee/ankle) were limited in practice. If Bridge-water and Newman don't experience any setbacks overnight in the league's concussion protocol, they should be full practice participants Thursday, as expected.
Also listed as limited in practice were punt returner Marcus Sherels (shoulder), nose tackle Linval Joseph (foot) and defensive end Justin Trattou (foot). Defensive end Brian Robison (ankle) was on the injury report with full participation.
Floyd: 'I'm ready'
The best news Wednesday was Floyd's return to practice after missing the past three games because of knee and ankle injuries. Floyd had minor surgery to remove some cartilage from his knee.
With everything healed, conditioning would appear to be the only issue for Floyd at this point.