Mike Hughes not expected to practice with the Vikings until training camp

The Minnesota Vikings cornerback is not behind schedule with his current ACL rehab, but he may also not be ahead of schedule either.

Under head coach Mike Zimmer, the defensive backfield for the Minnesota Vikings has evolved into one of the best in the NFL. Prior to Zimmer’s arrival, it was an easy argument to make that the Vikings had the worst pass defense in the entire league.

One of Minnesota’s top priorities these days is attempting to figure out how they can maintain the talent level of their defensive backfield. With the additions of Mike Hughes and Holton Hill last year, it seemed like the downfall of the Vikings’ pass defense was not going to happen anytime soon.

However, these thoughts were created before Hughes tore his ACL and Hill landed a four-game suspension.

Minnesota will already be without Hill to begin the 2019 season, but there’s a possibility that Hughes may not be out on the field in Week 1 either.

Hughes is currently rehabbing his surgically repaired knee after suffering a torn ACL last year during the Vikings’ Week 6 win over the Arizona Cardinals. There was a possibility that he might have been ahead of schedule in his recovery at this point in the offseason, but this doesn’t appear to be the case.

When asked on Tuesday if Hughes would be participating in any of Minnesota’s remaining OTA practices or their upcoming mandatory minicamp, Zimmer informed everyone that the second-year corner would not be taking part in any sort of practices until training camp.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Hughes won’t be ready to play for the Vikings’ regular season opener in September. But it does begin to surround his status with a little more doubt.

Last year, Minnesota running back Dalvin Cook was coming off his own torn ACL and he even suffered his injury around the same part of the season as Hughes (Week 4 in 2017). However, Cook was able to participate in portions of the Vikings’ OTA practices last offseason while the young cornerback has been rehabbing to the side during this year’s OTAs as his teammates practice.

Is this due to Hughes knee not recovering as fast as Cook’s or is Minnesota taking the rehab process a little slower with the corner’s knee injury after realizing the running back might have been rushed back onto the field sooner than he should have been in 2018?

Who knows for now, but rushing back onto the field doesn’t seem like something that is going to happen for Hughes during the upcoming season at least with the way his current recovery is going.