The Minnesota Vikings were not big spenders this past off-season. Tight end John Carlson was the biggest signing in terms of money, inking a deal for 5 years at $25 million. The Vikings have big plans for Carlson as he and fellow tight end Kyle Rudolph figure to be one of the best duos in the game.
These plans were slightly derailed when Carlson suffered a fairly serious MCL sprain in the first week of training camp.
However, Sunday brought some good news as Carlson returned to the practice field for the first time in nearly a month.
“He moved around pretty good,” head coach Leslie Frazier said. “It’s good to see him back out with his teammates and encouraged by the fact that he was out there. If he can just keep making progress this week, he should be fine when we get ready for game week. It was good to have him out there. He moved around pretty good.”
Carlson’s return couldn’t come at a better time because the Minnesota offense looked meek in the third preseason game this past Friday. All night, the unit was out of sync and just couldn’t establish a rhythm. The return of the athletic 6’5″, 248 pound tight end will provide a new, much needed target for quarterback Christian Ponder.
The Vikings see the potential that Carlson possesses going into his fifth year as a pro. Injury sidelined him for the entire season in 2011, but in his first two years, he racked up over 1100 yards and 12 TDs.
Putting two legitimate pass catching tight ends into the mix will only take pressure off Ponder as he should have plenty of check down options with Rudolph and Carlson.
All of this sounds great for the offense, but the reality is that Carlson has only practiced with his new team for about a week. He’s got lots of catching up to do, but after last Friday, the Vikings have to take any help they can get.
Follow Andrew Fisher on Twitter @the_realfish
