Darren Hails looks back at the Minnesota Vikings news from Thursday, 20 August to Wednesday, 26 August 2026. The defense finished Ravens week on top, J. J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz made the QB2 decision awkward, Tai Felton took his chance and the bottom of the roster began to move.
If you only saw Saturday’s score, you’d be forgiven for thinking Ravens week had gone rather badly.
Baltimore won 13-3, the Vikings didn’t score a touchdown and J. J. McCarthy left the game banged up after an uneven first quarter. It wasn’t exactly three hours to stick in the summer highlights package.
The fuller week was more encouraging than the score suggests. Minnesota’s starters did most of their useful work during two joint practices, then watched the reserves play the preseason game. That left us with an odd split: the best football of the week didn’t count, while the worst of it went on the scoreboard.
It also sharpened the questions around this team. The starting defense looks close to ready. Several young defenders are pushing for genuine roles. Behind Kyler Murray, however, the offensive picture becomes far less comfortable.
The defense finished Ravens week on top
Last week’s Scroll stopped after the first joint practice, when Dallas Turner had begun to turn a good summer into something more convincing. Thursday gave us the follow-up.
Turner continued to cause Ronnie Stanley problems across the two sessions, winning with speed rather than relying on one fortunate rep. That is much stronger evidence than a tidy sack against a reserve tackle in August. Stanley is one of the better left tackles in the league, and Turner repeatedly made him work.
The rest of Brian Flores’ group joined in. James Pierre made a diving interception against Lamar Jackson, Josh Metellus came through on a blitz and Jahvaree Ritzie ended the second-team two-minute drill with a sack. Neither Baltimore offense crossed its own 45-yard line in the closing drills.
There were good red-zone snaps too, with Minnesota’s pressure disrupting Jackson before routes could fully develop. No official sacks are awarded in a joint practice, and nobody should start hanging banners for winning a Thursday in August, but this was the sort of work Flores wanted against an established quarterback and a physical Ravens offense.
Turner is the headline because Minnesota traded Jonathan Greenard and handed him the lead-rusher job. The wider picture was just as useful. The front created pressure without Flores having to reveal every pressure package, the secondary held up behind it and Metellus looked entirely at home moving between coverage and the line of scrimmage.
The defense should be ahead of an offense still learning a new quarterback and run-game structure. Even allowing for that, it has now looked like the stronger side against the Giants and across two days with Baltimore. We’ve moved beyond merely assuming it will be ready.
McCarthy is still QB2, the question is trust
Let me get the obvious bit out of the way first: J. J. McCarthy remains the Vikings’ backup quarterback. One difficult preseason quarter doesn’t automatically hand the job to Carson Wentz, and Kevin O’Connell hasn’t announced a change.
McCarthy did leave the door open, though.
He completed five of 10 passes for 81 yards against Baltimore. His best throw was a 50-yard ball to Tai Felton after moving away from pressure, but the drive ended when he missed an open Myles Price on fourth-and-goal. There were other high throws, the reserve offensive line allowed regular pressure and McCarthy took a heavy hit late in the quarter before leaving the game.
The protection deserves its share of the blame. Minnesota had Henry Byrd, Joe Huber, Michael Jurgens, Vershon Lee and Ryan Van Demark across the line, and McCarthy was pressured six times. Still, the miss to Price was available and should have been a touchdown. A young quarterback competing to be trusted in an emergency has to make that throw.
Wentz then completed nine of 11 passes for 92 yards. His two-minute drive included a 35-yard completion to Jeshaun Jones and ended with Will Reichard’s 52-yard field goal. It was steady rather than spectacular, which is almost the entire job description for an experienced number two.
By Wednesday, McCarthy wasn’t practicing because of the ankle issue he picked up against Baltimore. O’Connell had split Tuesday’s work between McCarthy and Wentz and still hoped McCarthy could start Friday’s preseason finale in Denver.
The awkward part isn’t whether McCarthy has more long-term value – of course he does – it’s deciding which quarterback O’Connell would trust for a quarter, a half or a fortnight if Murray were unavailable. McCarthy needs the live football and can’t develop from the bench forever. Wentz currently looks more likely to keep the offense functioning without asking everybody else to compensate for him.
That‘s not another QB1 battle in disguise, it’s a practical decision about the 2026 team, and Saturday made it harder to dismiss.
Tai Felton took the chance McCarthy gave him
Felton’s 50-yard catch was the one offensive play worth seeking out afterwards. McCarthy bought a little time, gave him a chance downfield and Felton completed the difficult part through contact.
He finished with three catches for 66 yards. More useful than the numbers was O’Connell’s explanation of the job available to him. Felton must be able to line up in multiple positions and cover the depth role behind Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jauan Jennings. His speed gives that group something different, but only if the coaches trust him to handle several assignments on game day.
The receiver competition remains crowded. Rookie Dillon Bell caught six passes for 51 yards, while Jeshaun Jones added five for 63. Price managed one reception for eight yards from four targets, although his route on the missed fourth-down throw had done enough to create the touchdown.
Price’s roster value still begins with his return work and the offensive progress he showed against the Giants. Felton needed a moment of his own after a quieter first preseason game, and he got one. It doesn’t settle the WR4 conversation, but it puts him firmly back in it.
There was a nice human detail around the catch too. Randy Moss spent time with the receivers during Ravens week, and Felton said Moss had encouraged him to play with confidence. One deep ball isn’t a career transformation, obviously, but making that play with Moss watching from the sideline must have felt rather good.
Banks and Orange look like more than future projects
Caleb Banks and Domonique Orange started together against Baltimore and played into the second half. During their six series on the field, the Ravens were forced into five three-and-outs.
Banks opened with the sort of play Minnesota drafted him to make, controlling a blocker and shedding him to stop the run. His conditioning is still catching up after the foot injury, and O’Connell has been clear that his pad level and consistency need work. For now, flashes followed by a few heavy-legged snaps are part of the deal.
Orange offered a different sort of evidence. Flores dropped the 330-pound defensive tackle into coverage, where he helped force an incompletion. I’m not suggesting we build the defense around Orange chasing receivers, but it showed why the coaches keep talking about his unusual movement and versatility.
General manager Nolan Teasley described both rookies as players who can make an impact this season, not simply developmental picks for 2027. The game backed that up. Once they rotated out, Baltimore put together their only touchdown drive of the afternoon.
The Vikings will still have to manage Banks’ workload, and Orange will make rookie mistakes while Flores asks him to do strange things. They no longer look like two big bodies waiting at the back of the defensive line queue, they’re becoming part of the plan.
The punter competition finally produced proper evidence
Punter competitions are difficult to sell in late May. They become easier when one man launches a 65-yarder and the other places both of his attempts inside the 20.
Johnny Hekker punted three times against Baltimore and averaged 55 yards, including that 65-yard change of field position. Rookie Brett Thorson averaged only 41.5 on two punts, but both pinned the Ravens inside their 20. He also held cleanly for Reichard’s 52-yard field goal despite not doing the job at Georgia.
That neatly explains the dilemma. Hekker still has the bigger leg and a decade of NFL experience. Thorson offers youth, control and a cheaper long-term option, but the holding operation has to be trusted before Minnesota changes it. Another long Reichard field goal was a useful mark in Thorson’s column.
There’s one preseason game left. Unlike several camp competitions that mainly exist because we need something to discuss, this one appears genuinely close.
The bottom of the roster is already moving
Final cuts don’t arrive until after the Denver game, but the first squeeze began this week.
Minnesota brought back defensive lineman Jonathan Harris and added tight end Matt Lauter on Monday, while Taki Taimani and corner Tyreek Chappell were waived with injury designations. The timing was rough for Taimani because Banks and Orange are beginning to claim the defensive line snaps he needed.
On Tuesday, the Vikings signed corner Tre Hawkins and waived Dwight McGlothern Jr. with an injury designation. Hawkins is a former Giants sixth-round pick with 17 rookie appearances and a 4.39-second 40-yard dash on his record. He arrives late, but the corner room is thin enough for one strong week to get him noticed.
The receiver maths changed as well when Jeshaun Jones was suspended for the first three regular-season games. Jones can finish the preseason and won’t count against the 53 during his suspension, but he can’t return until Week 4. For a player leading the team in preseason receiving yards while fighting for one of the final places, the timing could hardly be worse.
These aren’t the headline cuts. They show which position groups Teasley believes still need another look before the proper decisions arrive.
A purple uniform debate I can actually enjoy
The NFL and Nike unveiled the NFC North’s new Rivalries uniforms on Tuesday. Minnesota will wear their version at home against Detroit in Week 15.
The Vikings have gone for deep purple with gold numbers, a gold face mask and knot-inspired sleeve details. It’s darker and less icy than the Winter Warrior look, and I suspect the gold face mask will divide people more than the rest of it.
My first verdict: I like it. It still looks like a Vikings uniform, which shouldn’t be treated as a small achievement during an NFL alternative-kit reveal. The sleeve detail gives it enough of its own identity without somebody having to stand beside the shirt and explain the entire concept.
We can argue properly about it in December. By then, seeing the Lions on the other side should provide enough emotion for everybody.
What comes next
Friday’s game in Denver is the final rehearsal and the last opportunity for the roster bubble to move in public. O’Connell hopes McCarthy’s ankle will allow him to start, Wentz is expected to play and the Vikings need one more look at the reserve offensive line before deciding how comfortable they really are behind Murray.
Felton, Bell, Price and Jones still have receiver jobs to chase, although Jones’ suspension has complicated the arithmetic. Banks and Orange need to carry their strong Baltimore work into another game. Hekker and Thorson have one final evening to separate a punting competition that’s closer than many expected.
The first-string defense can leave Ravens weak feeling good about themselves. The backup offense can’t. Somewhere between those two statements sits the final 53, and the decisions become real very soon.