Alexander and Waynes practice for the Vikings on Wednesday

The Minnesota Vikings are nearing full strength as they head to Green Bay on Sunday with three key players returning to the practice field.

The Minnesota Vikings have had some tough injury luck during the early stages of the season. While several names have wound up on the shelf, the injury situations of Mackensie Alexander, Trae Waynes, and Pat Elflien have been up in the air heading into the Vikings’ Week 2 showdown with the Green Bay Packers.

On Wednesday, Minnesota got some good news as Waynes and Alexander were both full participants in the team’s practice while Elflein was only a limited participant.

The return of Alexander and Waynes should help bolster a Vikings’ secondary that had an impressive performance last week in the 24-16 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Minnesota Vikings

Alexander was inactive for that game after suffering an ankle injury in August during a preseason contest with the Jacksonville Jaguars. While Waynes left the San Francisco game with a right knee injury in the first half.

With the Packers having weapons such as the speed of Geronimo Allison (who burned the Chicago Bears defense on a 39-yard touchdown Sunday night) and the versatility of Randall Cobb in the slot, the return of Alexander and the minor nature of Waynes’ injury was welcoming news.

However, the bigger piece of news may be the return of Elflein. The second-year center has missed the entire offseason program, preseason and Week 1 due to his recovery from ankle and shoulder surgeries after the 2017 season.

“He’s come a long, long way,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said on Wednesday. “He had a good week, feels good about things.”

When asked about his availability for Week 2, Zimmer gave a more cautious answer. “Well,” Zimmer paused, “I’ll have to see how practice goes this week.”

Getting a limited practice in is a good development for an offensive line that has been maligned this season and had trouble at times protecting Kirk Cousins and creating running lanes for Dalvin Cook.

Either way, it appears that the Vikings are close to having all hands on deck for their divisional rival on Sunday.