The Minnesota Vikings will be down at least one member of their starting offensive line Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles' active defensive front.
Center Garrett Bradbury won't play, the team said Wednesday, because of a lower back injury he suffered in a Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Bradbury is expected to be replaced by backup Austin Schlottmann, who made four starts last season when Bradbury suffered a similar injury. Meanwhile, left tackle Christian Darrisaw and linebacker Marcus Davenport are listed as questionable, both with ankle injuries.
Darrisaw left Sunday's game against the Buccaneers for six snaps after injuring an ankle, but he returned to play the entire second half. The Vikings estimated he would have been limited if they had practiced this week, but they conducted only a series of light walk-throughs. If he can't play, he would likely be replaced by longtime backup Oli Udoh.
Bradbury missed a total of five games last season because of a back injury that was exacerbated by a subsequent car accident. But he returned for the Vikings' wild-card playoff game against the New York Giants, and the team signed him to a new three-year contract worth $15.75 million in March.
Speaking Monday to reporters in Minnesota, coach Kevin O'Connell said the team was confident Bradbury was fully recovered from his initial back injury at the time.
"The last thing I can do is have the qualifications to speculate on what and when and how and where and all that stuff," O'Connell said, "but we felt positive about him, and he's done everything and had no issues whatsoever through a pretty physical training camp for us to feel really good about it. It's just how this game goes sometimes, and he's a tough guy, big part of the interior of our offensive line and we'll hope to get him back as soon as we can."
