Vikings player hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms

But they are now in stable condition

UPDATE: The player in question has been revealed by numerous sources to be offensive lineman Dakota Dozier, who the team placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list late last week. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.

Original story follows.

The Minnesota Vikings have placed five players on their reserve/COVID-19 list in the past week, and now there has been a scary incident involving a fully vaccinated member of the team.

Per head coach Mike Zimmer at his Wednesday press conference, a member of the team went to the emergency room on Tuesday night because they were having difficulty breathing. The player, who has not been named, is fully vaccinated and is currently resting in stable condition at the hospital.

Zimmer also said that 29 members of the team are now being tested for COVID as potential close contacts of the player involved.

While the football side of this is obviously not the most important part, it is worth noting that the NFL is being much more restrictive on the idea of moving or rescheduling games due to COVID than they were in 2020, when we saw games delayed several days when teams had significant outbreaks. If things end up getting too bad for the Vikings from a perspective of player availability, there’s at least a chance that they could end up being forced to forfeit this weekend’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers. . .and, potentially, other games as well.

But the most important thing that we can do is be thankful that whichever player it was that went to the hospital last night is recovering and hope that it does not get any worse for the Vikings’ roster. Hopefully the majority of players will be adequately protected and there won’t be any worries of a significant outbreak.