Vikings Training Camp: Day 1 Afternoon Practice Recap

The afternoon practice saw a little more action than the morning walk through.  It was a mix of individual drills, 11 on 11, and some 7 on 7.  Some observations from today's practice:

Depth Chart: I didn't notice anything different from what I posted for the morning recap.

Quarterbacks: I was asked on Twitter who was going to be the starter. It's just way too early to tell, other than it isn't going to be Christian Ponder.  Both Matt Cassel and Teddy Bridgewater have a pretty 'live' ball, and Bridgewater's arm strength is legit. Ponder gets the ball there, but his throws seem to float more than Cassel's and definitely Bridgewater's.  There wasn't one deep pass completed all afternoon, but the Vikings were really working on short crossing stuff, and they looked very effective doing that.

Receivers: Adam Thielen catches everything. Everything.  So does Kyle Rudolph, who I didn't see split out wide this afternoon like I did this morning.  Kain Colter also had a very good afternoon, and as long as Cordarrelle Patterson is out with an injury, these guys will get to continue to make a move. Colter also looked to be the top punt return option for the afternoon practice, or was at least given a serious look.

Running Backs: Jerick McKinnon is fast.  And when I say 'fast'...I don't know that I can describe his speed accurately.  I'm pretty sure he could turn on a light switch in a darkened room, and beat the light back to the chair he was going to sit in. And that still might not be doing him justice.  EFF AAY ESS TEE, fast. He's got good hands, and made some nice cutbacks during 11 on 11 and 7 on 7 drills.  That said, Matt Asiata was the #2 guy behind Peterson, and he did nothing to lose that job today. He's still a straight ahead runner, and not nearly as fast as McKinnon, but he broke a couple of solid runs, and was a decent pass catching option.

Lines/Linebackers: The lines are tough to evaluate. The team was in shells, and they would engage at about 3/4 speed. We'll be able to tell more once they go full pads.

Defensive Backs: The defense looked pretty decent, other than the underneath stuff.  I will say that Bridgewater almost had two back to back sort passes picked off, but they ended up just being batted down.  If there's a guy that stood out today, it would be Robert Blanton. He had one pick of a deep Ponder pass, and almost had a second.

Coaches: The f-bombs were more prevalent during the afternoon session. At one point, Mike Zimmer had a 10 word sentence, and managed to use the EFF DASH DASH DASH word as a verb, a noun, an adverb, a pronoun, and maybe even a dangling participle. One thing though--it may be gruff, but they're always teaching. Always. From individual unit drills, to full on 11 on 11, class was always in session.

Injury Notes: As mentioned earlier, Cordarrelle Patterson is day to day with a foot injury.  Captain Munnerlyn and and Andrew Sendejo were both on the field for the beginning of practice, then left with the training staff.  They both came back out towards the end and watched from the sidelines. No other injuries noted.

So day one, TL;DR: No surprises on the depth charts yet, Patterson is day to day, Munnerlyn/Sendejo are on the PUP with Chase Ford, Mike Zimmer is a maestro with the swear words, and Jerick McKinnon is a level of fast I haven't seen, nor can accurately describe.