Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kellen Mond has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the Vikings to pull several players out of Saturday night’s practice at TCO Stadium.
NFL Network’s Tom Pellissero reported that three quarterbacks including starter Kirk Cousins will be sidelined as high-risk contacts due to the NFL’s COVID-19 safety protocols and the team is undergoing contact tracing to determine further action.
Vaccinations were a hot topic across the NFL entering training camp with the spread of the Delta variant. While general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer declined to reveal the Vikings vaccination rate earlier this week, Zimmer made it clear that he was a proponent of his players getting the vaccine.
“With this Delta Variant the way it is right now and the people getting infected, I think it’s extremely important that everyone gets vaccinated,” Zimmer said last Tuesday. “Everyone has to make their own decisions — same thing with our players — but I will continue to push that they understand everything.”
Cousins declined to reveal if he had received the vaccine during the Vikings’ minicamp in June but several other players including Adam Thielen, Harrison Smith and Sheldon Richardson said that they had declined the vaccine.
It is unclear whether Mond received the vaccine but it’s likely he will be placed on the team’s COVID-19/reserve list in the coming days.
Mond was a third-round pick by the Vikings in this year’s NFL Draft and was expected to compete with Jake Browning and Nate Stanley for the backup quarterback position. Pelisserro reports that Browning is expected to take all of the reps at quarterback during Saturday’s practice.
