Vikings ramping up Justin Jefferson ahead of Denver game
Playing under the lights in Denver on Sunday night could feature the return of all-world wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
After missing five consecutive games with a strained hamstring, the Vikings are planning to increase Jefferson's workload in practice this week after he the 21-day window to active him from injured reserve was opened last Wednesday.
"Yeah, we'll see," Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell said when asked if it's possible Jefferson could play this week. "We're going to ramp him up. He handled the workload we started him out with last week opening up his window to get him back on the practice field."
Jefferson was injured in Minnesota's Week 5 loss to the Chiefs and on Sunday he tweeted that he can't wait to get back on the field with a team that has won five straight to reassert itself as a contender in the NFC.
I can not wait to get on the field with this team again!!!😝😝😏
— JJETS✈️ (@JJettas2) November 12, 2023
"We'll see what that looks like throughout the week, maybe a little bit more here and there," O'Connell continued. "Nobody wants to be out there more than Justin, maybe with the exception of me wanting him out there, but we're going to continue to be smart with Justin and know that when we do get him back it's going to be a major, major boost for us, getting the best receiver in football back out there with the group and the confidence that that group's had kind of overcoming him not being out there with us."
Last week, Jefferson said he's building up strength in the injured hamstring and considers himself day-to-day, though he doesn't "want to go out there 80-90 percent and have the chance of hurting it again."
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.