24 hours after the Minnesota Vikings lost cornerback Mekhi Blackmon to a season-ending knee injury during their training camp practice, the team was met with yet another injury in their secondary.
In the middle of Thursday's training camp practice, Vikings corner Shaquill Griffin went down with an injury after intercepting a pass during 11-on-11 drills, according to ESPN's Kevin Seifert. Griffin didn't get any snaps after his injury, and he left practice with members of Minnesota's medical staff, according to Seifert.
A day after Blackmon tore his ACL, another top corner going down with an injury is the last thing the Vikings need right now. Hopefully, Griffin's injury is not serious and he can return to the practice field sooner than later.
Minnesota Vikings need to quickly improve the depth of their CB room after latest injury
Following Blackmon's injury on Wednesday, Minnesota went out and signed free-agent cornerback Jacobi Francis on Thursday. Francis has been in the NFL since 2022, but he's never been on the field for a single defensive snap in a regular-season game.
The Vikings' addition to their cornerback room on Thursday was a bit of a confusing one given the lack of experience that Francis has in the league. At the same time, Minnesota could have just added him to quickly make sure they had enough corners to use in practice until finding a more talented defensive back to sign.
With Griffin leaving Thursday's practice with an injury, the Vikings need to be moving faster when it comes to signing another cornerback with actual starting experience in the NFL. Griffin and Blackmon were expected to enter the 2024 season as two of Minnesota's top corners, so adding another roster-filler like Francis isn't something the team can afford to do again.
With plenty of solid veteran options still available in free agency, there's no reason for the Vikings not to sign another experienced cornerback in the near future, especially with Griffin going down with an injury on Thursday.