Vikings TE Irv Smith Jr. Says He'll Play on Sunday vs. Packers

Vikings tight end Irv Smith Jr. expects to play in Sunday's season opener against the Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium, he told Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.

Smith had surgery to fix a thumb injury a little over a month ago. He's been gradually ramping up his activity level in recent weeks, with blocking and catching passes at full speed being the final step in his recovery.

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell is also expecting Smith to play, barring anything changing over the course of this week.

"Nothing has happened," O'Connell said when asked if anything has changed with Smith being on track to play. "I feel as confident as ever that we’ll have him. Obviously we’ll go through the practice week this week, and barring any setbacks, we hope to have Irv on Sunday."

If Smith does play, it'll be his first regular season action since the end of the 2020 season. He missed all of last year with a meniscus injury. The fourth-year tight end is hoping to finally have a breakout season in 2022 after that was put on hold a year ago.

The Vikings also have tight ends Johnny Mundt and Ben Ellefson on the active roster, so Smith won't need to have a huge role right away if they want to ease him back into the swing of things.

Smith, a 2019 second-round pick out of Alabama, posted a 66/676/7 line across his first two seasons while splitting time with Kyle Rudolph at TE. He has the potential to be a major matchup issue as a 6'2", 240-pound tight end with 4.6 speed and good agility. It'll be interesting to see how he's used in O'Connell's offense this year.

In other Vikings injury news, DL Jonathan Bullard (a projected starter) was limited at Monday's practice and WR Jalen Nailor was in a non-contact jersey as he recovers from being in the concussion protocol. The first official injury report of the season will come out on Wednesday afternoon.

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