Rudolph, Cook sit out Vikings practice

Kyle Rudolph and Chris Cook were both sidelined for Sunday’s practice after suffering concussion-like symptoms Friday night.

Two starters for the Minnesota Vikings, tight end Kyle Rudolph and cornerback Chris Cook, were not practicing Sunday afternoon after taking hits in Friday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills that left them both with concussion-like symptoms.

Both of them are still under observation, according to head coach Leslie Frazier, and will take additional tests on Monday to determine their status for Friday’s third preseason game against the San Diego Chargers.

“They are still being evaluated with the concussion symptoms. We’ll learn more about them tomorrow,” Frazier said. “After I get a little bit more information tomorrow, I’ll get a better idea of what direction we need to go. We’ll see once I get more information.”

As usual for the third preseason game, the starters are expected to play a series or two in the second half before giving way to the backups.

Rudolph took a helmet-to-helmet hit on the first play the Vikings’ third series Friday and came off the field. He said after the game that he had passed all of his concussion tests, but Frazier said he and Cook would be evaluated further.

“Up to this point, everything has gone smoothly,” Frazier said Sunday. “Whatever they have to get done tomorrow, after that we’ll know exactly how things are going. But so far everything has been positive.”

Also not practicing for the Vikings on Sunday were guard Geoff Schwartz (sports hernia), receiver Kamar Jorden (hand), tight end John Carlson (knee), linebacker Solomon Elimimian (hamstring) and fullback Matt Asiata (unknown). All but Asiata, who was attending to a personal matter, were present for practice.

The Vikings got several players back on at least a limited basis, including running back Jordan Todman, who is still showing signs of his ankle injury, safety Robert Blanton (hamstring), offensive tackle DeMarcus Love (shoulder) and defensive tackle Letroy Guion (knee).

Guion, Love and Todman should practice this week and the coaching and medical staffs will make a determination on their status later this week.

Frazier said Blanton “did pretty good today in some of the action that we had.”



While Rudolph’s status is still being determined, Carlson, who is expected to be the other big contributing tight end in the passing game, might make his first appearance in purple Friday night at the Metrodome.

“We’re going to see how he does day to day and make a determination about whether we want to play him in this ballgame or not,” Frazier said.

Running back Adrian Peterson continued to practice in his return from surgery to repair anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee in December and might get limited playing time in Friday night’s third preseason game. Frazier and Peterson both said they would discuss his status later this week.

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