Injuries have decimated the Minnesota Vikings defense and it doesn’t appear the starters will return in time to help the Vikings in Arizona on Thursday night.
So what are the Vikings doing? Calling in the reinforcements.
Antone Exum’s season came to an end Tuesday. He was placed on injured reserve after suffering broken ribs and a shoulder injury Sunday against Seattle.
In addition to losing Exum, KFAN’s A.J. Mansour reports the Vikings will be without safety Harrison Smith, linebacker Anthony Barr and defensive tackle Linval Joseph – three of their top defensive players.
Sendejo & Crichton limited, all others DNP. pic.twitter.com/40E2hBbpdH
— Aj Mansour (@AjKFAN) December 8, 2015
Joseph didn’t play against Seattle, while both Barr and Smith left the game in the first quarter. There is no timeline for how long either of them will be out.
Minnesota made a couple of corresponding roster moves to fill in some depth where they could.
The Vikings announced they have signed safeties Shaun Prater, who is now on his second stint with the team, and Anthony Harris from the practice squad.
Prater – a former Iowa Hawkeye – might be the most familiar name for Vikings fans. He played in 18 games with the Vikings in 2013 and 2014, and made three stats. The Omaha, Nebraska, native was released by the Vikings during preseason roster cuts and was signed by Indianapolis where he plalyed in just one game.
He recorded six tackles and an interception with the Vikings. Prater originally was selected in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL Draft by Cincinnati – where he played for Vikings coach Mike Zimmer.
The Vikings also waived defensive end Justin Trattou.
