Vikings Injury Updates: Andrew Booth Jr., Irv Smith Jr., Harrison Phillips

Two days removed from their second preseason game, the Vikings held a light, padless practice on Monday. New quarterback Nick Mullens is not yet in Minnesota, but he'll practice as a Viking for the first time on either Tuesday or Thursday.

Missing from practice were rookies Andrew Booth Jr. and Ty Chandler. Irv Smith Jr. was a limited participant in his return to action. Chris Reed, Harrison Phillips, Parry Nickerson, Kris Boyd, and Dan Chisena worked off to the side, as did Ryan Connelly and Blake Proehl, who remain on the PUP list.

Head coach Kevin O'Connell spoke after practice and provided some injury updates to reporters. Let's run through those.

Andrew Booth Jr.

Booth, the Vikings' promising rookie cornerback, left Saturday's game with a non-contact ankle injury. After the game, O'Connell classified it as an aggravation of a previous injury he's dealt with, not something new. His comments on Monday indicate that Booth won't play in the preseason finale but will be ready to go for the regular season opener against the Packers.

"He'll be a little bit more than day to day," O'Connell said. "We'll see how he progresses throughout the week, but the hope is, no matter what, he should be greenlit for the Green Bay game."

Irv Smith Jr.

It's been roughly three weeks since Smith had surgery to fix a thumb injury. He returned to practice for the first time on Monday, still wearing a wrap on his thumb. Smith participated in warmups and individual drills, but didn't appear to catch any passes yet.

We're now under three weeks away from the Packers game, but Smith appears to still be on track to be available for that contest. The question is whether or not he'll have to be somewhat limited as he eases back into action.

"First and foremost, he looks like he’s in great shape," O'Connell said. "So I credit our sports performance staff and Josh Hingst for keeping him ready to go and engaged despite him being out of surgery and not being able to do much. But I thought he moved great today."

"He’ll continue to progress into real football, but he’s made great strides, and I’m proud of the way Irv’s kind of attacked this thing. He’s been super dialed in in the meeting rooms, in walk-throughs — Coach (Brian) Angelichio, Coach (Ryan) Cordell, keeping him sharp, and now we’ve just got to see exactly where he’s at, being able to put it all together, for what we can really put it on his plate for September 11. But I’m happy with where Irv’s at right now and hoping to continue to progress him towards game action."

Harrison Phillips

Phillips, the Vikings' starting nose tackle, is dealing with a minor ankle injury.

"He had kind of, didn’t aggravate an injury but just had a real minor ankle last week that he actually practiced through against San Francisco (in joint practices)," O'Connell said. "I give him a lot of credit for that. He’s truly day to day, just wearing out those guys getting treatment and trying to get back in there and take his full reps."

Lewis Cine

The Vikings' first-round rookie safety had some ice around his knee on Monday, which O'Connell said is nothing to be concerned about.

"Everything is OK. Just like I said, Lew played some real snaps the other night, 48 hours, we’re actually less than 48 hours out of that game. Lew did some real good things in the game. He just had a little contusion or whatever Tyler [Williams] and Uriah [Myrie] are calling it. I don’t worry one bit about Lew."

Others

Chris Reed continues to deal with an elbow injury.
Ty Chandler missed a practice last week with an ankle injury but was able to play against the 49ers, turning six touches into 22 yards and a touchdown. He was absent on Monday, but it doesn't seem serious.
Kris Boyd, Parry Nickerson, and Dan Chisena are fighting through unspecified injuries.

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