EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings faithful welcomed Justin Jefferson to the TCO Stadium field with a loud roar.
The only thing louder — by a small margin — was the reaction after Greg Joseph booted a 58-yard field goal at the end of a special teams period to conclude practice.
Joseph made six of his seven field goals in the session, starting from 33 yards, the length of an extra point.
His next attempt of 41 yards from the right hash was wide left, but then he bounced back from 43 (left hash), 46 (left hash), 50 (right hash) and 54 (left hash) before leaving room to spare on the 58-yarder.
View photos from the 2022 Vikings Training Camp "Monday Night Practice" on August 8 at the TCO Performance Center.
Joseph also had capped a 2-minute drill by the first-team offense against the second-team defense with a 45-yard field goal for a 30-28 "win."
Kirk Cousins led the offense from its 25-yard line to the defense's 27 after getting the ball with 1:30 remaining. K.J. Osborn (two catches) and Johnny Mundt (one reception) helped advance the ball to the defense's 46 before Cousins found Jefferson for a key gain of 16. Osborn added another reception, securing the football as he dived out of bounds.
K.J., J.J. and G.J. for the win.
The second team offense, led by Kellen Mond, advanced to the defense's 47 but could not get farther during the 2-minute drill. Mond had completions to Kene Nwangwu and Trishton Jackson during the drive. Kris Boyd broke up a deep pass to Jackson on the second play of the drive and was again in coverage on a throw to Ihmir Smith-Marsette that was caught out of bounds.
Safety Lewis Cine, cornerback Akayleb Evans, defensive lineman Jullian Taylor and receiver Dan Chisena did not participate.
Receiver Blake Proehl and linebacker Ryan Connelly remain on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list.
Here are three observations from Monday's session presented by Minnesota Eye Consultants, the Proud LASIK Partner of the Minnesota Vikings:
1. Out of the gate
The Vikings opened their 11-on-11 portion with the first-team offense facing the first-team defense.
Cousins fired one over the middle to Jefferson just shy of the Norseman logo at midfield.
A nice run by Dalvin Cook followed.
Cousins targeted Jefferson on a deep one soon thereafter, but it was well covered by Cameron Dantzler and Camryn Bynum and fell incomplete.
2. On the edge
The Vikings are looking forward to partnering outside linebackers Danielle Hunter and Za'Darius Smith in a multitude of attack modes.
This could include lining them up alongside each other in certain pass-rush situations.
Minnesota also has been developing its edge defenders beyond Hunter and Smith by having less-experienced players mix in with the first team.
Pat Jones II and D.J. Wonnum took several reps at outside linebacker with the first-team defense.
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3. Battles up front
Jesse Davis was back at right guard with the first-team offense Monday.
He joined LT Christian Darrisaw, LG Ezra Cleveland, C Garrett Bradbury and RT Brian O'Neill.
Minnesota went with LT Blake Brandel, LG Austin Schlottmann, C Chris Reed, RG Ed Ingram and RT Olisaemeka Udoh for the second group.
The third group from left to right was Vederian Lowe, Wyatt Davis, Josh Sokol, Kyle Hinton and Timon Parris.
Across the line, Jaylen Twyman delivered a couple of nice pass rushes during a team period.
