The Vikings took a bit of a leap of faith this offseason when they decided to pencil in Jasper Brinkley as their starting middle linebacker. Brinkley missed the entire 2011 season with a significant hip injury. Minnesota never got involved in a deep free agent market at inside linebacker, and didn’t re-sign incumbent starter E.J. Henderson, either.
Brinkley missed the Vikings’ mid-June minicamp with a groin injury that the organization hopes isn’t related to his previous hip ailment. On Sunday, G.M. Rick Spielman acknowledged that the Vikings are growing concerned with their projected starting middle linebacker’s health.
“There’s some concern there, definitely,” Spielman told Tom Pelissero of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. “The durability is a question right now.”
All the good young middle linebackers are taken by this time of year, but the Vikings might want to start thinking about a veteran insurance policy. Henderson is still available. So is former Colt Gary Brackett, who knows Vikings coach Leslie Frazier from their two years together in Indianapolis in the mid-2000s.
Brackett received medical clearance from a 2011 shoulder injury in early June.