Minnesota Vikings training camp has been going on for almost two weeks now, and unfortunately for the fans in the stands at the TCO Performance Center, they haven't had the chance to watch Justin Jefferson take part in practice.
Jefferson has been out of action since July 25th after suffering a mild hamstring injury during one of the first few training camp practices of the summer.
Earlier this week, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell emphasized that the team is going to be smart with the receiver's injury, but that the young pass-catcher also "wants to get back out there."
Return date for Minesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson seems incredibly obvious
While O'Connell revealed that Jefferson is essentially itching to get back out on the practice field, Minnesota has to make sure it protects the receiver from himself. One way the Vikings can do that is by keeping Jefferson on the sidelines until after the team holds joint practices with the New England Patriots on August 13th and 14th.
In order to make sure he's healthy for the regular-season opener against the Chicago Bears on September 8th, Minnesota must control what they can control as much as they possibly can when it comes to their top wide receiver.
This likely means not having Jefferson go against Patriots cornerbacks during Minnesota and New England's pair of practices together in the middle of August.
Of course, Vikings fans in attendance would love to see their favorite team's top pass-catcher embarrass the entire Patriots secondary. But unlike how they can with their own players, Minnesota can't control how physical New England would potentially be when attempting to defend Jefferson.
With Mike Vrabel now running the show for the Patriots, it's safe to say New England's defensive backs would be willing to do almost anything in order to just prevent Jefferson from doing anything notable.
Patriots defenders also aren't going to be worried about penalty flags in a training camp practice, so the level of physicality is going to be high, and that could potentially result in an injury setback for Jefferson.
Minnesota's staff has typically done well with giving the team's players the right amount of time to recover. So, one should expect them not to do anything different with arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.