Reports on Tuesday hinted at the possibility of injuries keeping three defensive starters – defensive tackle Linval Joseph, safety Harrison Smith and linebacker Anthony Barr – out of Thursday night’s game at Arizona, but it’s worse.
Not only are Joseph, Smith and Barr out, but so is fellow starting safety Andrew Sendejo and Barr’s backup outside linebacker Brandon Watts.
Robert Blanton, who would start in Smith’s place if he’s healthy, is listed as questionable.
All in all, if Blanton doesn’t play the Vikings will be down their top four safeties (Antone Exum was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday), so they made a pair of roster moves, adding Shaun Prater out of free agency and moving Anthony Harris up from the practice squad.
It’s yet to be seen what Minnesota’s starting safety situation will look like, but it was bad enough in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks that cornerbacks Terence Newman and Trae Waynes were ready to play safety.
Arizona remains healthy. The official injury report comes out Wednesday afternoon.
