Latavius Murray on the mend

Latavius Murray healing after March ankle surgery

We can set the stage with our friend Chris Thomason chatting with Latavius Murray at OTA’s last week. Murray was signed during free agency but came in with a known [to the Vikings] ankle injury that would take time to heal after surgery in March. The Vikings had agreed to a three-year, $15 million contract for the young runner not knowing that during the draft, Dalvin Cook would become available. Murray adds some skill and much-needed experience along with Jerick McKinnon to the Vikings backfield after the decision to let Adrian Peterson go.

As Chris pointed out:

Murray had his walking boot removed Tuesday, 10 weeks following March 22 surgery on his right ankle, and was able to walk around freely Wednesday during an organized team activities session. Murray was asked afterward if he anticipates being 100 percent when training camp begins in late July.

“The goal is just to try to be available during training camp at some point,” Murray said. “Right now, everything is pointing toward that. I’m just going to trust the process and not rush the process.”

That prompted me to look at Murray’s injury history. One of my favorite sites for this is Sports Injury Predictor. The site lists the known injuries Latavius has had since college. Interesting enough, it does not include the injury that caused the surgery on his right ankle.

http://sportsinjurypredictor.com/injury-predictor/player/26804

Murray should be ready for training camp if there are no setbacks. It shall be interesting to see if he can win the starting job over the rookie Dalvin Cook who is had a much greater head start actually getting muscle memory reps throughout OTA’s, while Latavius watched from the sideline. ...And for comparison of the two backs performances, in case you missed it, PFF posted their comparisons in a tweet.

www.profootballfocus.com/

We also know, that the “Jet” McKinnon will also be pushing for as much playing time is he can get. This should be a fun battle to watch during training camp. Who do you think will win the week 1 starting running back job?