Vikings injuries: Justin Jefferson, Josh Metellus return; Jalen Nailor still out

He's back. Justin Jefferson has returned to practice for the Minnesota Vikings after missing the past three weeks with a minor hamstring strain that he suffered early in training camp.

"You'll see him. He will begin to take part in practice," head coach Kevin O'Connell said Monday. "It'll be kind of a ramp up. You'll see him take part in bits and pieces of it, but he will offically be back to work and ramping up from here."

Jefferson's return will give him and 22-year-old quarterback J.J. McCarthy three solid weeks to work together before the regular season kicks off Monday, Sept. 8 at Soldier Field against the division rival Chicago Bears.

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McCarthy did not play in Saturday's preseason game against the New England Patriots, but in two joint practices against New England his top wide receivers were Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor and Lucky Jackson, with the likes of Tim Jones, Myles Price and Jeshaun Jones getting the majority of the targets.

Nailor, though, is considered week-to-week with a hand injury that he suffered during the second day of practice against the Patriots.

"We're more than likely going to hold him out for now," O'Connell said of Nailor. "I do feel good about where we're at with that. I think as we roll here, it's going to continue to give us answers on the rest of that room. We got some more information in the game, we got some more information in the joint practices, even when Jalen was out there, so we'll just continue to build that together. I would consider it week-to-week at this point knowing we've got three weeks out from that opener that we can ramp him back up."

The other injury of concern is to safety Josh Metellus, who went down with a shoulder issue against the Patriots last Thursday. O'Connell says Metellus is in a good spot and will be back at practice this week.

"He's kind of in the same boat as Justin today. We avoided anything long term with him, so much so that he'll work back in today. Working through some soreness, but he's going to be in a good spot," O'Connell said.

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