Monday is day five of full team workouts at Vikings training camp and running back Latavius Murray remains sidelined from a surgery that took place in March.
The Vikings released after Murray’s ankle surgery saying he would be ready for training camp. But he still hasn’t been cleared to practice and there’s no timetable for his return.
“I need to get healthy,” Murray said Monday, via Vikings.com. “If I’m healthy then I can go out there and help this team, regardless of what role that is. I have to get healthy first. Me, off to the side rehabbing, that’s how I can help right now.”
After three years with the Raiders, including a Pro Bowl nod in 2015, Murray signed a three-year deal with the Vikings in March with the expectation that he would be the No. 1 back. That changed on day two of the draft when the Vikings snatched up Florida State running back Dalvin Cook, who, by all accounts, looks like a star in the making.
Murray remains adamant he’s got the mental part of the game down so as long as he’s physically healthy he’ll be a factor.
“He is a smart guy but he needs to get out there,” head coach Mike Zimmer said in response to Murray’s thinking.
Pro Football Talk makes a good point by saying this might be Murray’s only year in Minnesota because Cook might win the job and keep it for a long time. In that case, the Vikings would owe Murray $3.4 million this season and then be off the hook for the remaining $11 million and change.
