Vikings will be without Eric Kendricks vs. the Lions

Thanks to a hamstring injury, the Minnesota Vikings linebacker will not be participating in the team’s Week 16 matchup against the Detroit Lions.

When the Minnesota Vikings take the field for their important divisional game on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, they’ll have to do it without their leading tackler.

On Friday, the Vikings declared linebacker Eric Kendricks out for the matchup with the Lions due to a hamstring injury. Kendricks has not practiced all week due to the injury.

He is the sixth Minnesota player to miss at least one game with an injured hamstring this season. Are all of these just a coincidence or something the Vikings have to get better at preventing?

Sunday’s contest in Detroit will be the first time the linebacker has sat on the sidelines since Week 9 of the 2016 season when he was out with a concussion. Coincidentally, that also happened to be a game against the Lions.

Kendricks has been pretty durable throughout his career with Minnesota as Sunday will be just the fourth time he’s missed a game due to injury since joining the team in 2015.

Currently, Kentrell Brothers is listed as the second-string middle linebacker behind Kendricks on the Vikings’ depth chart. Brothers will likely see more time on the field this week, but exactly how Minnesota decides to make up for their starting middle linebacker’s absence on Sunday won’t really be known until the game actually begins.

In the middle of his fourth season with the team, Kendricks currently leads all Vikings defenders with 106 total tackles. It’s the third year in a row that the linebacker has racked up at least 100 tackles in a Minnesota uniform.

Luckily, the Vikings will be going up against a Lions offense on Sunday that is among the NFL’s worst and has only averaged 15.5 points in their last four games. Kendricks will obviously be missed by Minnesota this week, but things could definitely be worse.