Adam Thielen was all smiles, taking photographs with family members and soaking up the last time he'll play competitive football at Blakeslee Stadium.

"When the lights come on at this place, it reminds me of the games we used to play here," the Minnesota State grad said. "We played a lot of great games. I have a lot of great memories."

明尼苏达维京人举行了一年一度的晚上进行tice in front of a packed Blakeslee Stadium on Saturday. The Vikings estimated there to be 10,500 people at the event.

There were a few live periods pitting the starting offense against the No. 1 defense, and the defense had the best of it.

Quarterback Sam Bradford hit a couple of big passes to Stephon Diggs, and Dalvin Cook and Jerick McKinnon each scored on short runs, but the defense forced Bradford into incompletions on three goal-line passes.

"Tonight was a good show, under the lights," defensive tackle Linval Joseph said. "We got to work out some things. We got better today."

备份的四分卫Keenum最好的运气, hitting two short touchdown passes.

The night ended with coach Mike Zimmer thanking the fans for attending the final training camp at Minnesota State.

"Thank you, Mankato, for 52 great years," he said.

Joseph extended

Joseph signed a contract extension Saturday prior to the night practice, one worth a reported $50 million with $31.5 million guaranteed.

Joseph is coming off his best season, making 100 tackles with four sacks and earning a trip to the Pro Bowl. He's the first Vikings' defensive tackle to make 100 tackles since Henry Thomas in 1991.

"I feel like we have some special here," Joseph said. "We have a lot of guys who want to work, and when you have that, you can have a good team."

Earlier this week, Zimmer said he thinks Joseph is the best nose tackles he's ever been around.

"He’s a great person, wants to be really good," Zimmer said. "Probably works as hard as anyone on the football team in the offseason. I think he cares an awful lot about the guys around him."

约瑟夫是第三个防守球员得到控制ract extension since training camp began, joining defensive end Everson Griffen and cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Safety Harrison Smith received a contract extension last season.

Those four contracts total nearly $230 million.

"I think it shows they did a good job of trying to keep this team together," Joseph said. "Right now, we're all happy."

Barr set high

Zimmer talked during the offseason about how important it was for linebacker Anthony Barr to bounce back, and Barr said early in training camp that he needed to give more effort this season.

应用程序arently, it's been more than talk for the fourth-year linebacker.

"He's been tremendous," Zimmer said. "I look for him to have a big year. I am constantly trying to figure out ways to use him more and more and more. His effort has been outstanding. He’s very conscientious about making sure he runs to the football all of the time. ... He has had a phenomenal spring and camp so far."

In his first two seasons, Barr was disruptive in the pass rush, making 7.5 sacks. He had only two sacks last season, though he earned his second straight Pro Bowl trip.

"I'm just out here trying to get better," Barr said. "Trying to improve, help my team get better."

Getting the boot

Though the kickers and punters get evaluated every day in practice, Zimmer said what they do in preseason games would matter more in the evaluation. He also said that Saturday night's performance, with the large crowd at Blakeslee, would also be important.

"This is really a long process," Zimmer said. "It will be good to see them when we get the lights on, but again, these preseason games are going to be important, as well. We play some pretty good (teams) in those games, so it will be good."

Incumbent Kai Forbath and rookie Marshall Koehn are competing to be the kicker, while veteran Ryan Quigley, who has punted for the New York Giants and Arizona, and rookie Taylor Symmank, neither of whom were with the team last season, are competing to be the punter.

"Hang time is really important." Zimmer said. "We’ve had some long punts with some distance, but those are not good. You punt the ball from your own 30 (yard-line) and it gets into the end zone, that’s not a good punt.

"It’s really about consistency. Is he going to get the ball off in the proper amount of time? Is he going to get the ball off to the proper distance? And is the hang time going to be good? And can he kick directionally? All those things factor into it."

Forbath and Koehn were both 3 of 4 in field-goal attempts Saturday night, with each missing from more than 45 yards. Quigley and Symmank each hit several nice punts, though Symmank appeared to have better hang time. Both were effective in getting punts inside the 20.

Rookie excitement

Rookie center Pat Elflein has been slowly working his way onto the No. 1 offensive line, and he's looking forward to making his preseason debut at Buffalo next week.

"It's going to be a lot of fun," he said. "Dream come true."

Elflein started training camp with the No. 2 unit, but it didn't take long for him to start getting reps with the starters. He said he's learning a lot every day, trying to hone his technique as well as studying the playbook.

"Communication is the key," he said. "When you're communicating with everybody, that's when you get more comfortable."

Notes

The players have today off, then return to training camp for two practices Monday and two more on Tuesday before leaving Mankato. ... Rookie Ben Gedeon opened the night practice as the starting weakside linebacker. Emmanuel Lamur and Edmund Robinson had been splitting time with the stating defense through the first two weeks of camp. ... Receiver Laquon Treadwell, tackle Riley Reiff, linebacker Kentrell Brothers, cornerback Jabari Price and defensive end Tashawn Bower all missed the night practice with injuries. Tackle Rashod Hill, who had been subbing for Reiff, was injured during a running play and was carted off the field. Jeremiah Sirles filled in at left tackle for the rest of practice. ... In a pregame ceremony, the Vikings brought back several alumni players, such as Matt Blair, Chuck Foreman, E.J. Henderson, Oscar Reed and Ahmad Rashad.

Follow Chad Courrier on Twitter @ChadCourrier

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