The Vikings activated DE Kenny Willekes from the Reserve/COVID list on Friday, but he won't play against the Packers this weekend. After he spent a week on the list, missing a game and several practices, the Vikings must've felt that Willekes wasn't quite ready to return to action.
That means rookie Patrick Jones II and recent free agent acquisition Eddie Yarbrough will again serve as the Vikings' reserve defensive ends behind Everson Griffen and D.J. Wonnum.
Mike Zimmer said on Friday that he wasn't sure if Willekes would play against the Packers. The second-year defensive end was taken off the COVID list, but reverted to the practice squad and wasn't promoted to the gameday roster on Saturday either as a COVID replacement or with his one remaining standard elevation.
By not elevating or signing Willekes, the Vikings are running the risk of him being snatched off their practice squad by another team on Monday. But assuming that doesn't happen, I'd imagine he'll be elevated next week and play against the 49ers. At some point, the Vikings will presumably want to sign him to the active roster full-time.
Willekes has played in two games this season. He saw 16 snaps against the Cowboys and 41 against the Ravens. It was in that Baltimore game where Willekes really stood out. He utilized an effective bull rush to get after Lamar Jackson, played well in run defense, and showed off his relentless motor in pursuit all game long.
It's obviously a small sample size, but Willekes' five pressures on 43 pass rush snaps is the second-best pressure rate of any Vikings DE, trailing only Danielle Hunter.
The 2020 seventh-round pick out of MSU tore his ACL prior to his rookie season but looks like he could wind up being a steal. He was a highly productive college player and now might be working his way into the Vikings' long-term plans at DE, even though he'll miss this week's game against the Packers.
The 33-year-old Griffen has had a great season for the Vikings, but they need more out of Wonnum, and getting anything from Jones or Yarbrough against Green Bay would be big. Hunter is out of the season.
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