Aug. 29—In the end, Mike Zimmer decided to be very cautious.
The Vikings coach thought long and hard about it but ultimately decided not to use six key players throughout the preseason. They were running back Dalvin Cook, wide receiver Justin Jefferson, defensive end Danielle Hunter, cornerback Patrick Peterson, safety Harrison Smith and linebacker Anthony Barr, although Barr apparently wouldn’t have been able to play anyhow due to an undisclosed injury.
“I have been very cautious about playing some of our guys because of injuries,” Zimmer said after Friday night’s preseason finale, a 28-25 loss at Kansas City. “If we get the wrong guys hurt, we are going to struggle in a lot of ways.”
It remains uncertain if Barr will be healed for the Sept. 12 opener at Cincinnati, but the other top guys who didn’t play during Minnesota’s 0-3 preseason are projected to be ready. Cook, Peterson and Smith have been fully healthy, Hunter is said to be fine after missing all of last season following neck surgery and Jefferson has returned to practice as a full participant after suffering a shoulder injury in an Aug. 6 workout.
“We will be excited to get our players who we have been holding out this preseason out there and get going again,” Zimmer said. “It’s really hard (to evaluate without some top players) on all sides of the ball, I feel like we are going to be pretty good, but we still have to go out there and prove it.”
VIKINGS WAIVE THREE
The Vikings on Saturday waived running back Ito Smith, center Cohl Cabral and defensive tackle Zeandre Johnson to get the roster down to 76 players. They must be at the NFL regular-season limit of 53 by Tuesday.
Smith, signed last Monday to provide depth at running back due to injuries, carried 10 times for 27 yards against the Chiefs. Last May, Cabral was claimed off waivers from Houston and Johnson was signed as an undrafted free agent.
Zimmer couldn’t say after Friday’s loss how many roster spots were up for grabs.
“It’s tough to say how many because I think you’re looking at guys from other teams too,” Zimmer said. “You’re trying to figure out if this guy is better than a guy we have on our team, that gets released. You try to figure out the practice squad and all of those things, making sure you have enough guys in case guys get hurt.”
CONDITIONING WORK
It was 91 degrees at kickoff Friday, but Zimmer didn’t consider that an excuse. He said some Vikings players must get in better shape.
“We’re going to have to do some conditioning,” Zimmer said. “I know it’s hot out there (Friday), but those guys were sucking. We’re probably going to have to condition the rest of this week and some of next week.”
Zimmer didn’t name any players but he clearly was disappointed with some.
“I know there were a couple of guys that couldn’t rise to the occasion there towards the end,” he said.