The grueling 70-minute overtime tie with the Green Bay Packers left some wounds that will effect several players’ availability on Sunday versus the Buffalo Bills.
Marcus Sherels (ribs), David Morgan (knee), Dalvin Cook (hamstring) and Everson Griffen (knee) missed all three practices this week and have been ruled out, opening the door for a handful of Minnesota’s backups to get a shot.
The absence of Cook, who was injured in the overtime session against the Packers and replaced by Latavius Murray, may open the door for either Mike Boone (listed as questionable) or Roc Thomas to step into a backup role. Boone rushed for 195 yards and racked up 88 yards receiving on 10 catches in the preseason, while Thomas caught two touchdowns in his preseason debut at Denver.
Head coach Mike Zimmer said that whichever back had the better week of practice may get the activation on Sunday.
“[Thomas] has got explosiveness, catches the ball well, good start and stop,” Zimmer said. “Boone is a hard, physical runner that has speed to the perimeter, catches the ball well.”
Griffen played 69 snaps in Sunday’s game and participated through the overtime, so it’s unclear when his injury occurred. He did not appear at practice all week and will miss just his third game in the last eight seasons, though he played through a torn planter fascia for half of the 2017 season.
No longer is veteran Brian Robison around to fill in for Griffen. Stephen Weatherly will, in all likelihood, see an increased role with Griffen out. He played 14 and 18 defensive snaps, respectively, in the first two weeks of the season. Zimmer said Thursday he’s seen substantial improvement from Weatherly, the former seventh-round pick, in his third season.
“He’s more reactive. Not so much by the numbers,” said Zimmer. “He used to stutter his feet on the rush; he’s not doing that anymore.”
Weatherly also said Friday that he expects Tashawn Bower to join the rotation.
“He’s gonna be playing just as much as [Danielle Hunter] and I,” Weatherly said. “We’re gonna have a great three-man rotation going.”
As for Morgan, the time of his injury is also unclear. Rookie Tyler Conklin is next in line behind the third-year pro, who played 52 snaps in the first two weeks and earned Pro Football Focus’s third-highest tight end grade last season.
Conklin played 17 snaps the first two weeks, but offensive coordinator John DeFilippo said he trusts Conklin and the rest of his backups on offense.
“I trust all 25 guys to be on the field if that time came,” DeFilippo said. “Since the day I’ve gotten here, all these guys that are here now and that were not here that unfortunately are not on our football team anymore have totally, 100 percent bought in to what myself is teaching and our coaching staff is teaching.”
Sherels absence will hurt most on punt returns and punt coverage, but it’s undetermined who his fill-in would be because of Mike Hughes’ defensive responsibilities. Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer also mentioned Holton Hill, new signee Aldrick Robinson and Boone as possibilities to see some reps in the return game.
“I train a lot of guys for that reason,” said Priefer, “I’ve just had to use more guys because Mike Hughes … he was getting a little bit gassed because of the other special teams he was [playing] and because he playing so much defense.”
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