Vikings place rookie Mike Hughes on IR, bring back defensive tackle

For the second year in a row, the Minnesota Vikings have lost their first pick of the draft early in the season due to a torn ACL.

Rookie cornerback Mike Hughes suffered a torn ACL during the Minnesota Vikings 27-17 win in Week 6 on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, forcing the team to place him on injured reserve since he will miss the remainder of the 2018 season.

To take his place on the roster, the team announced on their official Twitter account they have re-signed defensive tackle David Parry.

Parry played in the Vikings two first games, but was released to make room for fellow DT Tom Johnson. He recorded a sack against the Green Bay Packers right before he was released.

Drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fifth round(151st overall) out of Stanford in 2015, Parry played with the Colts until they released him before the start of the 2017 season.

The New Orleans Saints then signed him, but placed him on injured reserve three weeks later. Minnesota signed him this past May.

Parry started all 32 games in his first two seasons, recording four sacks. It will be tougher for him to get on the field now though with Johnson back in the mix. Jaleel Johnson has also been seeing some snaps too.

Hughes was the team’s 30th overall pick in this past draft out of Central Florida and started two games this year. He returned an interception for a 28-yard touchdown in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers. He also returned four kicks for an average of 26.8 yards per return.

Head coach Mike Zimmer recently spoke about the injury and the team’s plan in moving forward without Hughes this year.

"“We feel bad about Mike because I think Mike is going to be a really good football player.But we’ve got other guys here and we expect them to come in and do a good job. We’re going to miss him, but we’re going to move forward.”"

Hughes did struggle at times, which is expected from a rookie early on, but overall he played well, not just against the pass but also against the run.

Given the needs of the Vikings on the offensive line, it was a shock to many that they chose a cornerback with their first pick in the draft this year. But Minnesota can never have too many corners, especially when they have to play Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford.

Minnesota Vikings

Hughes went down early in the fourth quarter while covering Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, but according to Vikings wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, the cornerback hurt his knee early in the game on a punt.

"“I went up to him and was like, ‘Are you OK?’ (Hughes said) his knee just buckled. I guess he felt like he could continue to play. I wish I would have told him, ‘We’re winning. Sit the rest of the game out, make a smart decision because it’s a long season.’ But he went back out, and unfortunately he’s out now.”"

Always easy to second guess, but when players are healthy enough to play they usually will unless the game is well out of reach. Unfortunately, injuries happen.

It is a tough loss and it would have been very interesting to see how much Hughes could have progressed the rest of the season.

What will the Vikings do to replace him? Maybe they could sign a free-agent cornerback or just use the guys currently on their roster more.

Fellow rookie corner Holton Hill has seen some snaps this season and has impressed coaches since training camp. Safeties George Iloka and Anthony Harris could perhaps see some more snaps too.