The Minnesota Vikings have been snake bit by injuries, both during the regular season and over the summer, and the hits keep on coming.
Most recently, the Vikings sent another tight end to the injured reserve list (IR), as the ranks at that position continue to deplete.
“#Vikings place Nick Muse on IR,” Aaron Wilson of KRPC2 Houston reported on Wednesday, September 18.
Muse fractured his hand during Minnesota’s win against the San Francisco 49ers last weekend. His designation to IR means that the third-year pro will miss at least a month, as required by league rules. However, given the nature of the injury and the healing time, there’s a good chance Muse could miss more time than that.
Muse has played in both of the Vikings’ games this regular season, though the majority of his snaps have come on special teams.
Vikings TE Position Depleted by Injuries Through 2 Weeks of Season
The timing of the injury is unfortunate for the Vikings who are already without two-time Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson.
Hockenson suffered a serious knee injury late last season against his former team, the Detroit Lions, and remains on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list as he rehabilitates. Minnesota has three more games and then a bye week, after which they will return for a matchup with those same Lions on October 20. That has been the Vikings’ target date for Hockenson’s return for some time now.
The team’s off week will also be the fourth and final week that Muse has to sit out after heading to IR. Muse was the team’s third tight end, so his loss isn’t dramatic. However, two of the team’s top four players at the position are now out until at least Week 7, leaving the group thin with only Josh Oliver and Johnny Mundt on the active roster.
Former Green Bay Packers tight end Robert Tonyan is on the Vikings practice squad, as is N’Keal Harry — a first-round wide receiver in 2019 turned tight end with Minnesota this offseason. The Vikings will likely elevate one of those two players to the active roster for their Week 3 matchup with the Houston Texans.
Justin Jefferson Likely to Play for Vikings in Week 3
Minnesota’s good news for the day was that star wide receiver Justin Jefferson returned to practice in a limited capacity after a quad contusion knocked him out of the team’s Week 2 win over San Francisco.
“Vikings WR Justin Jefferson participated in today’s walk through, despite his quad injury,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday via X. “It looks as if he is on track to play Sunday vs. the Texans.”
Minnesota was able to hold on down the stretch against the defending NFC champion 49ers despite Jefferson’s absence. The team also had to make due without receiver Jordan Addison, who sat out the game with an ankle injury he sustained in Week 1.
Addison did not practice on Wednesday, per the team’s official injury report, which doesn’t bode well for his return by the time Houston gets to town Sunday.
