Vikings Activate Kirk Cousins, Nate Stanley, and Riley Patterson, Waive Case Cookus

The Vikings activated quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Nate Stanley from the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Thursday after their five-day isolation period due to being unvaccinated close contacts with rookie QB Kellen Mond came to an end.

"I’ve had a lot of family and friends reach out to see if I’m OK," Cousins said. "I’ve had six negative tests since I was last with Kellen, don’t have any symptoms, so I don’t have COVID. I’ve been feeling good, so very grateful for that."

Cousins went on to explain that the reason he and Stanley were deemed high-risk close contacts, as he understands it, is because the meeting room the QBs were using was too small. They've since moved to a bigger room.

Read: Vikings Quarterback Kirk Cousins, Fresh Off COVID-19 List, Dances Around Vaccine Questions

Cousins and Stanley will be back at practice on Thursday for the first time since last Friday. They'll join Jake Browning and Danny Etling as the team's four players at the position while Mond — who has COVID — recovers. The Vikings didn't need five QBs, so they waived Case Cookus, the Northern Arizona alum who was signed at the start of the week when Browning was the only QB available.

Mond and wide receiver Myron Mitchell are the two Minnesota players still on the Reserve/COVID list.

It'll be interesting to see whether Stanley or Etling stays on as the fourth QB when Mond returns. Stanley, a 2020 seventh-round pick, has been around longer. But even though teams technically aren't allowed to cut players over their vaccination status, the fact that Etling is vaccinated and Stanley isn't might make the Vikings' decision an easy one.

"It's important to be available when you're playing football," Mike Zimmer said last weekend when talking about Browning, who is vaccinated.

The last piece of roster news is that rookie kicker Riley Patterson passed a physical and has been taken off the Active/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. After spending the first seven days of training camp riding a stationary bike off to the side of the practice field, Patterson will get his chance to be a part of a kicking competition with Greg Joseph. The veteran Joseph has been somewhat up-and-down, so there may be an opportunity for Patterson to potentially win the job if he impresses.

As with every day of camp, I'll have a full recap from Thursday's practice coming later.