Plenty of things went wrong for the Minnesota Vikings during their Week 13 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, including when veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore had to exit the matchup early because of a hamstring injury.
On Monday, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell shared an update about the severity of the hamstring injury that Gilmore suffered during the victory.
" did get a low-grade kind of hamstring that caused him to not return. Still getting some evaluations on what that looks like. I do not believe it is a longer-term injury. I'm not quite ready to rule him out for this week. Want to see how he kind of feels as we work through it."
Top Minnesota Vikings specialists close to returning from injured reserve
The fact that it doesn't seem like Gilmore is going to end up on injured reserve and that he might even play in Week 14 against the Atlanta Falcons is a great sign for the health of the former First-Team All-Pro.
Despite the optimism, though, Minnesota will still probably approach his injury with caution to avoid losing him for a significant period of time. So, don't be surprised if the Vikings give Gilmore Week 14 off so they can make sure he's available to play in the final few games on the team's regular-season schedule and the playoffs.
In addition to the update about Minnesota's starting corner, O'Connell also announced on Monday that the team is opening up the 21-day practice windows for rookie kicker Will Reichard and long snapper Andrew DePaola this week, who have both been on injured reserve for the last few weeks.
The Vikings head coach didn't indicate that Reichard or DePaola are guaranteed to be activated from injured reserve before Sunday's game against Atlanta. But at the very least, O'Connell just wants Reichard and DePaola to start working with punter/holder Ryan Wright again to ensure that Minnesota's kicking game is still in good shape when they actually do officially activate the kicker and long snapper.