Minnesota Vikings Training Camp Could Be A Bit Shorter

If you're planning on making the trip to Mankato for Minnesota Vikings Training Camp this year, you might want to lean towards going earlier rather than later.

As we told you yesterday, the Vikings will report to Mankato on Thursday, 28 July, with the first practice taking place the next day. According to Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, it sounds like the Vikings are going to be holding some joint practices with Mike Zimmer's former team, the Cincinnati Bengals, prior to the two teams meeting in their preseason opener on 12 August. If that's the case, the Vikings could be departing Mankato a few days early to hold those joint practices with the Bengals at their camp in Cincinnati.

This wouldn't be the first time the Vikings have held joint practices with another team. They used to hold joint practices with the Kansas City Chiefs when the Chiefs had their Training Camp in River Falls, Wisconsin. The last practices the teams had together took place in 2008, and the Chiefs moved their camp to St. Joseph, Missouri in 2010.

Last season, the Vikings started camp early because they took part in the Hall of Fame Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They broke camp on 14 August, three days before their second preseason game against Tampa Bay. If they're planning on holding those joint practices with the Bengals, they would likely end up breaking camp on around 8 or 9 August, depending on how many joint sessions they're going to be having.

So, again, if you're planning on making a trip to Training Camp this season, you may not have as much time as you've had in past years. We'll know more for sure when the team releases the full camp schedule.