Vikings initial injury report: Linval Joseph, Andrew Sendejo, Riley Reiff sit out

In preparation for their game on Sunday afternoon against the New York Jets, the Minnesota Vikings got back to business on Wednesday with their first practice of the week. There were a couple of familiar names on the injury report for this week, and one that might raise a couple of eyebrows.

Defensive tackle Linval Joseph sat out of Wednesday’s practice with what is being listed as an “ankle/knee/shoulder” issue. Joseph was listed on the injury report for Week 6 as having a shoulder injury, but he did practice in full all week in preparation for the game against the Arizona Cardinals. I’m not sure if this is anything to be alarmed about yet, but it does bear some monitoring through the course of the week. It might also explained why the team brought back defensive tackle David Parry after they placed Mike Hughes on injured reserve.

Also not practicing for the Vikings on Wednesday were offensive tackle Riley Reiff (foot) and safety Andrew Sendejo (groin). Both of those men missed the game against Arizona with those same injuries.

In addition, defensive end Everson Griffen is still away from the team, and it doesn’t appear as though he’s going to return this week against the Jets.

On the brighter side, running back Dalvin Cook starts the week as a full participant in practice. He was a full participant in last Thursday’s practice before being limited on Friday and, ultimately, inactive on game day. With the performance that Latavius Murray put on last week, it might not be as much of a rush to get Cook back in there, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.

Also participating in practice for the first time in a couple weeks was defensive end Tashawn Bower, who missed the previous two games with an ankle injury. Bower’s absence has left the Vikings thin at defensive end for the past couple of weeks, and it would be nice to see him back in the fold on Sunday.

Listed on the injury report but fully participating in Wednesday’s practice were defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson (ankle), long snapper Kevin McDermott (hand), and defensive end Stephen Weatherly (rib). The Vikings had nobody listed as a “limited participant” in the first practice of the week.

We will continue monitoring the Vikings’ injury situation throughout the week.