EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Vikings have been down all year. Now they’re even more depleted.
The transaction list revealed by the Vikings resembled a virtual white flag, with four key players placed on injured reserve with five games to go in a second straight dismal season.
Two safeties, a wide receiver and the long snapper are out, joining two of their three best cornerbacks.
These are positions that already lacked depth at the beginning of the year. But as tantalizing as securing that second overall draft pick for 2012 can be — assuming that the winless Indianapolis Colts are on their way to locking up No. 1 — the Vikings (2-9) haven’t abandoned their goal to finish the season with success.
The ultracompetitive nature of professional sports makes it nearly impossible for coaches and players to think that way, for one. The Vikings will face legitimate playoff contenders in four of their last five games, another motivating factor. Plus, there’s the fear of rushing a rookie quarterback into action too soon.
“If you don’t feel like he’s quite ready, and you put him out there just for the sake of saying, ‘We want to look at him in a game,’ and now the kid fails or he jeopardizes someone else’s health because he wasn’t ready,” coach Leslie Frazier said, “then that’s not the wisest thing to do.”
Frazier said this week’s moves were not made because of the team’s record. Only long snapper Cullen Loeffler and wide receiver Michael Jenkins would have a chance to return if the Vikings were still in the race. So they’ve been left with no choice but to elevate the status of a handful of young players.
Strong safety Tyrell Johnson, who started three games this season to fill in while Jamarca Sanford and Husain Abdullah were injured, tore the hamstring tendon away from the bone in his right leg. Frazier said Johnson will need six months to recover. He was scheduled to have surgery Wednesday.
Abdullah is also done for the year, because of lingering concussion symptoms. That means sixth-round draft pick Mistral Raymond will start at safety next to Sanford, with Jarrad Page now backing them up. Page was signed Tuesday after being let go recently by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jenkins, who leads the team with three TD receptions and is second in catches and yards, has torn meniscus cartilage in one of his knees — Frazier didn’t say which one — and will have surgery today. His season-ending injury prompted the team to re-sign rookie Stephen Burton, a seventh-round draft pick who has been on and off the roster.
Thus, Greg Camarillo and Devin Aromashodu are the primary outside receivers, with the team’s preference to use star handyman Percy Harvin in the slot and limit his snaps to decease his injury risk. That’s not an ideal situation for quarterback Christian Ponder’s development.
“The guys that we’re going to have playing on Sunday are guys he’s familiar with. They still have the ability to make plays for him,” Frazier said, adding, “You still want to make sure that you’re doing the right thing by our team and by Christian as well.”
