Minnesota Vikings: Taylor Heinicke has leg in cast

Minnesota Vikings #3 QB Taylor Heinicke reported to Mankato with his leg in a cast.

Former Wisconsin Badgers QB Joel Stave may have taken one more step toward making the Vikings roster after presumptive #3 Taylor Heinicke reported to training camp in Mankato with a cast on his leg.

Mike Zimmer was expected to give more information on Heinicke’s injury during press availability late Thursday. It’s not believed the injury is season-ending.

The Vikings will reportedly release their PUP list Friday morning and it’s a good bet Heinicke will be on it.

Before news of Heinicke’s injury, there was some thought the second-year QB out of Old Dominion might push veteran Shaun Hill for the #2 QB job.

Obviously that QB competition won’t happen now.

However, there could be an even more intriguing competition in the works if rumors about the Vikings targeting recently-released QB Nick Foles turn out to be true.

As for Heinicke, we can only speculate at this time about what happened to his leg and how long he’ll be out.

Obviously it would be a huge setback for the young quarterback to miss significant time due to a leg injury.

Last year, Heinicke came in as an unheralded UDFA and impressed coaches enough that the decision was made to carry him on the 53-man roster rather than expose him to waivers.

Heinicke spent the entire year on the bench but that’s beside the point. He got to practice and be in the meetings for a whole year and many thought he was poised to move up the depth chart.

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A big factor in the speculation about Heinicke taking Shaun Hill’s job was Hill’s $3.2 million cap number for 2016.

Replacing the aging, out-of-shape Hill with the young, scrappy Heinicke may have made a lot of sense, but it seems now that plan is on hold indefinitely.