Whenever he has talked about veteran center Ryan Kelly working his way through the recovery process, head coach Kevin O’Connell has used a common phrase. He has repeatedly said he wants the 32-year-old “banging down the door” to his office before he gets back on the field.
The hinges on that door might be close to coming off.
After being placed on injured reserve last month in response to a pair of concussions, Kelly appears to be in line to make his return on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field when the Vikings play the Green Bay Packers.
Though he’s technically still on injured reserved — and thus, would need to be activated in order to suit up — Kelly is being listed as questionable after progressing enough to be a full participant in practice this week.
“His veteran presence goes beyond above the neck,” O’Connell said. “It seems like every shotgun snap is right on the money. His comfort for the quarterback is something that we feel from the first snap he’s back in there. Just his overall awareness, control, and poise at the line of scrimmage.”
If Kelly is indeed able to play, it will the first time this season the Vikings have had their projected starting offensive line fully in tact. That would be Kelly flanked by left guard Donavan Jackson and right guard Will Fries on the interior, with left tackle Christian Darrisaw and right tackle Brian O’Neill serving as the bookends.
It was a welcome sight for O’Connell. He acknowledged that not everything hasn’t gone according to plan after the Vikings spent so much money in free agency to fortify the trenches.
“We’re coming up on Thanksgiving here next week; not necessarily how we maybe envisioned it,” O’Connell said with a laugh. “But certainly (we’re) very excited to potentially have the opportunity to have those guys out there together.”
That should help young quarterback J.J. McCarthy feel more comfortable as he continues to iron out some of his mechanics. It feels like the only way the projected starting offensive line isn’t intact will be if Kelly suffers a setback over the next 24 hours.
It sure doesn’t sound like that it’s going to be the case.
“That’s a guy that’s played for a really long time at that position,” O’Connell said. “He has basically seen everything there is to see, and I think it’s going to be huge for us to potentially have the chance to have him back.”
Briefly
The only other player with an injury designation is edge rusher Jonathan Greenard (shoulder) after logging a couple of practices as a limited participant. He’s being listed as questionable for Sunday’s game.
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