Carlson Not Likely To Play Thursday Against Tampa

(Cue the "I wasn't aware he was playing anyway" jokes.)

Vikings' tight end John Carlson suffered a concussion in yesterday's 21-14 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, and might be getting into scary territory when it comes to the concussion issue. While with the Seattle Seahawks, he was hospitalized overnight for a particularly nasty concussion he suffered in a playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, and now has another one. Carlson has been a bit of a disappointing signing from an on-field standpoint, having caught just three passes for eight yards after signing a five-year deal this off-season.

With the quick turnaround for a Thursday night match-up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there's pretty much zero chance that Carlson will play in that game. This will likely mean more snaps for fourth-round pick Rhett Ellison, and the 1500 ESPN speculates that the Vikings will likely bring Allen Reisner back up from the practice squad so that they have three healthy tight ends on the roster. Reisner was originally waived to make room for Jerome Simpson when Simpson came off of his suspension, but was brought back to the practice squad shortly thereafter.

We know that the Vikings will do the right thing in handling Carlson's concussion. Where that will lead at this point, nobody knows. Carlson's health is obviously the most important thing here, though, and I'd be surprised if we saw him on the field again any time soon as a result of this latest setback.