Over the course of the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings did a great job in building up the basic infrastructure of the roster. One of the ways they did so was by bolstering both side of the football in the trenches.

The interior of both the offensive and defensive lines got significantly better, but they all had one common thread among them: all of them have concerns when it comes to injuries. It's a competitive advantage that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah believes that he has a medical staff who can keep often injured players healthy, and it was a big contributing factor last year with their 14-3 season.

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Kevin O'Connell talks timeline for Will Fries

One of the players that was injured last year is right guard Will Fries. He suffered a broken tibia last season in week five and has yet to return to practice. 

O'Connell commented on that, and we may not see him until training camp.

"Yeah, he’s been — it’s almost hard to believe with how strong he is, some of the things you're hearing about from what he's doing in the weight room — but we're being really smart with the injury that it was, and then once we're able to kind of get him in and get a feel for that, you know, knowing how we handle the spring, I don't know if we'll see him fully active this spring, but I have no hesitation to say that I'm really excited to see him when he’s able to get out there, more than likely, for training champ. There's still a chance we could see him in some bits and pieces of work over the next two weeks. But he's in a good spot."

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It shouldn't be too big of a concern that Fries isn't back yet. Being in the building for an offensive lineman is arguably just as important as being on the field. Plus, having his center from the Indianapolis Colts, Ryan Kelly, here will make his transition a little bit easier.

Another factor with why Fries isn't on the field has to do with what this time means. They aren't doing real reps due to the nature of OTAs, and O'Connell himself said so on an episode of The Rich Eisen Show.

"Rich, right now, the rules prohibit even Minnesota Vikings defensive players from lining up across from Minnesota Vikings offensive players. So we would be imagining one heck of an opponent if we said it was us coaches standing out there as a defense, or some of the other offensive players forming a defense. That's not what this time of year is about. This is the learning, the teaching phase. So much growth and development can happen during this time when there's really no negative outcomes. There's no plays that don't go your way and have a real impact on the team. They're all just learning moments right now, but there's going to come a time where that changes, and it's going to come very rapidly and quickly."

While it's not a big deal that Fries isn't participating in OTAs, it is something to monitor moving forward.

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