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.

Brian Stensaas — Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Sharrif Floyd (73).

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.

"I'm already conditioned; I'm ready," Floyd said. "It felt great to be running around, getting contact again. No problems."

The Vikings have won three games with backup Tom Johnson starting for Floyd. But he had an impactful game in his last outing, notching a sack and a key fourth-down stop inside the Vikings' 10-yard line in the win over the Chiefs.

NFC honors Joseph

Nose tackle Linval Joseph, who had 10 tackles and half a sack in Sunday's win over the Rams, became the fourth Vikings defensive tackle to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week. He joins Keith Millard, John Randle, who did it five times, and Kevin Williams, the last to do it in 2004.

"I just want to give it to all my teammates, because without them, I wouldn't have gotten this award," Joseph said. "We just have to play together, and by us playing together, it gave me the opportunity to make plays."

Joseph's 10 tackles tied his career high and matched the league season high by a defensive tackle set by the Saints' John Jenkins.

Robinson in; Ford out

Depth at cornerback, something the Vikings have enjoyed little of in recent years, should not be a problem down the stretch this year.

Forced to make a decision on cornerback Josh Robinson's status, the Vikings chose to activate him from the physically unable to perform list and release Chase Ford, a tight end they like and had hoped to hang on to for depth purposes.

With Robinson and his 21 career starts back on the active roster, the Vikings' top five corners look like this: Xavier Rhodes, Newman, Captain Munnerlyn, first-round draft pick Trae Waynes and Robinson.

Robinson, who tore his pectoral muscle in the offseason, returned to practice three weeks ago. Ford, who caught 23 passes a year ago, was active for only one game this season, but did not play.

Staff writer Chris Miller contributed to this report.