Minnesota released its regular season schedule Thursday, and the team also announced the preseason slate.
The Vikings’ preseason will be crucial — this year more than ever. The team saw a mass departure in free agency. Many veterans on the team, like the starting cornerbacks and defensive lineman, left the team or have announced they were doing so.
Minnesota went about replacing some of the talent in the draft. The team drafted 15 players in the 2020 NFL Draft, in addition to signing 12 undrafted free agents. Those rookies are to report for a virtual offseason program, according to the Star Tribune.
That said, it will be hard for rookies to adjust amid the coronavirus pandemic, where they are not able to go through the conventional process in the offseason. That means the preseason will give the Vikings a good idea of what they got, as opposed to some of the usual methods for evaluating talent prior to that.
Here is the Vikings’ preseason schedule:
Game 1 — August 13-17, Vikings vs. the Texans
Games 2 — Aug. 20-24, Vikings @ the Bengals
Game 3 — Aug. 30, Vikings @ the Browns
Game 4 — September 3, Vikings vs. the Seahawks
