The Vikings will be without veteran cornerback Nate Hairston when training camp gets underway Wednesday.
Minnesota on Tuesday placed Hairston, who is entering his sixth season and played last season for Denver, on the active/non-football injury list. The team did not give any specifics on Hairston.
Earlier Tuesday, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell had expressed hope that linebacker Ryan Connelly and wide receiver Blake Proehl would the only players sidelined at the start of camp. Both were both placed Sunday on the physically unable to perform list as they continue to recover from ACL injuries suffered last year.
O’Connell said three players who were limited in spring drills should be at full strength to start camp in tight ends Irv Smith Jr. and Johnny Mundt and wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette. All three reported to the TCO Performance Center on Sunday and took the field for a walkthrough on Monday.
Smith missed all of last season due to a torn meniscus.
“He was great in that walkthrough, jog-through setting,” O’Connell said. “You can tell the work’s been put in (during rehabilitation).”
Smith-Marsette missed the last two weeks of spring drills due to a lower leg injury. And Mundt did only work on the side in the spring while recovering from a torn ACL suffered last October while he was with the Los Angeles Rams.
O’Connell said Smith-Marsette was “working great” on Monday and that Mundt also was.
