After a hectic Saturday and Sunday, Monday's camp was relatively uneventful. We have a small debate over the wide receiver depth chart after Greg Childs, as well as a bit of a medical discussion about the nature of his injury. Still, football moves on, and we will as well. Quick hits, injury report, media review, and developments with our second and third teamers.

Big thanks to Vikings Fan Page, for helping to provide me with these updates. You can like them on facebook!

Injury report:

Greg Childs (knees) went in for surgery today. We at the Daily Norseman wish him well, even if that means no longer having a career in football. More on the story below.

John Carlson (knee) was seen jogging, but clearly has "a hitch in his gait," according to Tom Pelissero at ESPN1500. He's currently wearing a knee brace and is still targeting a return well before Week 1.

Robert Blanton (hamstring) also resumed jogging, but has no clear timetable

Both Jordan Todman (ankle) and Pat Brown (knee) were in pads, but got very light work in team drills, if any. They are day-to-day.

DeMarcus Love (shoulder/pectoral) does not need surgery, but will need over a week to return to strength

Kamar Jorden (wrist) was not in pads, and stayed on the sidelines. He is expected to be day-to-day.

Josh Robinson (hamstring) was in pads and took a few reps, although still not very many. He's progressing well.

Adrian Peterson will remain on the Active/PUP list for at least another week, according to Frazier. He was not at practice in order to attend a court hearing.

While I've posted about what I've learned about the patellar tendon tear, other media have also come forth with prognostications. The Star Tribune thinks there is a very high likelihood that this is the end of Childs' career. The Pioneer Press doesn't seem to take a strong stance , but heavily implies that the two previous NFL examples of bilateral patellar tendon tears bodes ill for Childs. ESPN1500 does a good job defending Spielman's draft decision on Childs and also argues (separately) that this isn't necessarily a death knell for his career.





For what it's worth, I agree with all of them. The Childs injury is serious and could most likely spell the end of his career, but it doesn't mean he's down and out. Pelissero goes into great detail about Spielman's drafting strategy and notes, and specifically argues a few things of note: the first is that NFL teams traditionally draft high upside talent with red flags in the fourth round ( Everson Griffen and Ray Edwards , for example) because the salary risk is low—$300,000.





The second argument that caught my eye was that there was no reason to expect this (or any other) injury to occur again. A quotation that effectively made his point: "A study co-authored by four physicians from the Steadman Clinic in Denver found 24 patellar tendon tears in 22 NFL players from 1994 to 2004. Every player participated in training camp the year after the injury, with all but a handful surviving final cuts."





For what it's worth, Childs' attitude has been great , going so far as to say, "Coach, I'll be back. I'm going to do just like I did before. I'm going to work as I can. I'll be back out here to help the Vikings."





Leading off the media review today will be the Star Tribune because they have another video . Summary:





They lead with Greg Childs, who consumes most of their time.

There's no likelihood of getting a veteran FA, but just opening up possibilities for current receivers on the roster. They discuss the pros and cons of three or four receivers.

Some discussion on Adrian Peterson, nothing new.

Don't expect too much "Vikings football" on Friday against the 49ers; we'll see a lot of our 3rd, 4th and 5th backs.





Mark Craig posted his notebook , which is particularly content-heavy today. In it, he covers Childs (a common theme), the noticeable improvement for Burton, the advice Walsh received (slow down on your kicks), Sherel's strong grip on the number one punt returner job, Jasper Brinkley's lack of doubt, and Jared Allen's disdain for preseason games (he got the first one off last year and wants that again).





Jerome Simpson compares Ponder to Andy Dalton , by way of Dan Wiederer. But not really, because NFL players don't do that too often.





Kent Youngblood gets into the mix at the Star Tribune and writes about the potential breakout season we could see from Kyle Rudolph. Mostly, he has giant hands, and he's big and fast. He also writes about the problems of using the replacement referees , including troubling interviews from former NFL refs. Highlighted are the potential safety issues and missed calls.





Over in St. Paul, the Pioneer Press ran their own story on replacement officials, with a native Minnesota referee providing the bulk of the criticism. Charley Walters, the author, does a pretty good job detailing some interesting specifics, but doesn't really mention that members of the NFLRA might be biased.









Fowler noted that Harrison Smith and Everson Griffen got first team time, and also runs down a couple of other practice highlights.





The folks at 1500ESPN produced two notebooks, one from Judd Zulgad and the other from Pelissero.





In Judd's notebook, there is a small discussion on the "middle of the defense," where Spielman tells us we should expect more from Guion due to his positional focus at nose tackle (that he's no longer taking snaps at undertackle). Guion's additional strength along with his natural footspeed should help things here.





He predicts that Mistral Raymond will win the other safety job opposite Harrison Smith, and repeats a Spielman quote indicating that Brinkley has had a good camp.





Spielman calls Josh Robinson a bit of a steal, and emphasized his speed.





More than that, Judd's discussion with Spielman revealed the organizations public thoughts about Christian Ponder, who they've feel has unequivocally improved. In particular, the general manager likes the clear difference in Ponder's ability to make reads and go through progressions.





Zulgad, however, still likes the Blair Walsh story. Not only does he once again emphasize Walsh's leg, he talks about the biggest thing that has increased his accuracy (already reported; it's Priefer's advice to slow down). While doing live drills, Walsh has only missed two kicks of twenty six, both from over 40 yards.





Peliserro's notebook is a bit less of a read, and kicks off with a story about Brandon Fusco's aggressiveness, and his goals—he already plays very physically, so he'll want to become smarter about it. He says playing across Kevin Williams has prepared him immensely. There's some more on the Griffen story, which I briefly touch on below. Pelissero calls Tuesday the roughest day for the offense yet, with a number of three-and-outs—although he is quick to exonerate Ponder, who was the victim of a poor running game and drops.





Tom suspects Jasper Brinkley may be a bit annoyed with all the questions he's been getting about his health. He has a small interview with Brinkley in the notebook.





The most significant development from ESPN1500, however, was the release of the Vikings' official depth chart . Like Pelissero points out, there aren't an extraordinary number of surprises, although it's not the depth chart the Vikings will use against the 49ers, as Schwartz is listed as the first backup to right guard, and has Arceneaux behind Childs. Still somewhat illuminating, though, as it has Burton ahead of Wright and Jenkins ahead of Aromashodu. Expect it to change as the preseason progresses, both as a result of injuries and talent evaluations.





The ESPN mothership and its NFC North blogger Kevin Siefert took the time to visit Vikings training camp, and produced a " Training Camp Confidential " on the Vikings. It's another good read, but has been covered in a lot of roundups. The new information includes a bit about Greenway's locker room influence, how Ponder has clearly improved over last season, and again a small emphasis on the middle of the defense, with a brief mention of Guion at nose tackle and Smith at safety, and a larger story on the fact that Brinkley is healthy. Zulgad did a better job on this specific story, to be honest.





He also goes through the trouble of pointing out reasons for optimism—clear franchise vision and an easy early schedule—and reasons for pessimism, which include a tough division.





There's a bit of official Vikings media to cover, although I'm going to save that for tomorrow because this story has crashed twice while writing it, and rewriting is a pain.





Twos and threes: