Vikings Injury Updates: Za'Darius Smith, Christian Darrisaw, Akayleb Evans

The good news on the injury front for the Vikings is that star pass rusher Za'Darius Smith avoided picking up anything serious during Sunday's win over the Bills. The bad news is they have two key players, including one of their biggest breakout stars, in the concussion protocol ahead of this weekend's showdown against the Cowboys in Minneapolis.

Smith was shaken up late in the fourth quarter with a knee contusion, something he's dealt with at times throughout this season. He was able to finish the game, and head coach Kevin O'Connell said on Monday that he's "doing well."

"He battled through it and continues to be one of our marquee, premier players that help us win football games by how he impacts the game," O'Connell said. "So we’ll see how he does throughout the week."

It sounds like Smith, who leads the NFL with 55 pressures this season, should be good to go against Dallas.

Left tackle Christian Darrisaw and rookie cornerback Akayleb Evans, who made his first career start in Buffalo, are the two players in concussion protocol. Both players had to leave the game midway through, being replaced by Blake Brandel and Andrew Booth Jr.

O'Connell didn't have much of an update on either Darrisaw or Evans' availability, just saying that the Vikings will trust their medical staff and let the process play out of seeing if those players can clear the protocol. Harrison Smith missed one game with a concussion earlier this season.

"I don’t really want to get into symptoms and different speculation on what that will look like throughout the week," O'Connell said. "I think it’s very important that we let the medical team and that protocol play itself out as far as their availability. We'll keep you guys updated, but I think it's very important that we rely on the medical team and make sure that the player's health and safety is the number one priority when dealing with that."

It's unclear if defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson (calf) has a realistic chance to return this week. We'll see if he's able to participate in practice, starting on Wednesday.

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