Marcus Davenport gives puzzling update on his injury status with Vikings

Shortly after the 2023 free agency period began earlier this year, the Minnesota Vikings made the decision to sign former New Orleans Saints pass rusher Marcus Davenport to a one-year deal worth $13 million.

So far this season, Davenport has been on the field with Minnesota's defense for a grand total of four snaps. He's been dealing with an ankle injury since Week 1, and on Friday, he was ruled out for the Vikings' upcoming Week 3 showdown against the Los Angeles Chargers.

While answering some questions from KSTP's Darren Wolfson on Friday, Davenport didn't do much to give anyone any sort of idea when he might actually be back on the field for Minnesota this year.

Now, Davenport did label his ankle injury as "day-to-day," and he did say that progress is being made. Whether the progress that he's made recently has been significant or not, he didn't want to elaborate beyond "progress."

With Davenport being ruled out for the second time in the last three weeks, the patience level that Minnesota fans have for the veteran pass rusher is certainly wearing thin.

Davenport was supposed to help make up for the departure of Za'Darius Smith this offseason, but some are starting to question if the signing of the former Saints pass rusher was a bad decision.

Not helping is the fact that Smith is already off to an impressive start this year as a member of the Cleveland Browns, with seven pressures in his first two games.

Luckily for the Vikings, Danielle Hunter is still on their roster, and he's put the entire team's pass rush on his back this year. In Minnesota's two games this season, Hunter has accumulated nine pressures and four sacks.

Of course, the Vikings would prefer to have both Davenport and Hunter on the field at the same time this year. But thanks to the new aggressive scheme the defense is running under Brian Flores, Minnesota has still been able to generate plenty of pressure during the first two weeks of the 2023 season.