Vikings have reportedly escaped a season-altering disaster

During Thursday's joint practice session with the Tennesee Titans, Minnesota Vikings rookie cornerback Mekhi Blackmon was forced to head back to the locker room early after going down with an injury. A little later, Vikings cornerback Akayleb Evans was removed from the practice after a sequence resulted in a collision with Minnesota safety Josh Metellus.

With Blackmon and Evans both expected to play significant roles for the Vikings' defense in the upcoming season, many feared the worst for the young cornerback duo, especially for Evans, who suffered three concussions during the 2022 campaign.

Luckily, it sounds like both Minnesota corners avoided serious injuries on Thursday, according to ESPN's Kevin Seifert on Friday. It's possible that Blackmon and Evans could miss some upcoming practice time, but Seifert added that there are "no long-term issues" for either corner when it comes to their current health.

With the start of the 2023 regular season just a few weeks away, these two incidents could have certainly turned out to be much worse for the Vikings since the team's cornerback group isn't exactly one of the deepest positions on their current roster.

The Vikings were able to add a solid veteran corner to the top of their depth chart this offseason in Byron Murphy Jr., but other than him, their entire cornerback group is full of inexperience at the NFL level.

Still, barring any changes, it seems like Minnesota will have Evans and Blackmon available for their Week 1 matchup inside U.S. Bank Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 10th.

Evans is hoping to make more of an impact in 2023 than he was able to last season. It's not that he didn't play well in 2022, but the multiple concussions he sustained kept him off of the field for a total of eight games (including the playoffs).

As for Blackmon, he has quickly climbed the depth chart since the start of Vikings training camp. Minnesota's coaching staff now seems to be comfortable with him playing a significant amount of snaps this year, despite the fact that he's a rookie.

The Vikings are hoping that these two young corners and Murphy can help improve a pass defense that was one of the worst in the entire NFL last season. They can't get much worse, right?