Rhett Ellison Not Practicing, Could Miss Sunday's Game

With Jerome Felton serving the final game of his three-game suspension on Sunday when the Minnesota Vikings host the Cleveland Browns, the Vikings could be without the services of the man that has performed quite well in Felton's stead.

For the second day in a row, tight end/fullback Rhett Ellison missed practice with a knee injury. Ellison hyper-extended his knee in last Sunday's 31-30 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. If Ellison is unable to go, coach Leslie Frazier said that the number of snaps for rookie Zach Line will likely go up significantly.

"Zack (sic) would be the guy," Frazier said. "He's done a good job the first two games. And his snaps will probably go up a little bit because of Rhett's absence. But we got some other ways we can get things done."

Ellison, a fourth-round selection out of Southern Cal in the 2012 NFL Draft, was not a highly heralded pick when the Vikings selected him. However, he performed well enough in his rookie season to be named a "Secret Superstar" by the folks at Pro Football Focus, and in many aspects was every bit the equal of Felton, who went to the Pro Bowl and got a nice new contract from the Vikings this past off-season. It will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments the team makes if they are without Ellison and Felton this coming Sunday.