Three Vikings QBs Sidelined By COVID Protocols As Camp Opens

Now that three Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks have been forced to quarantine by the NFL's COVID-19 protocols, Jake Browning was the only quarterback available for Saturday's annual night practice at TCO Stadium.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins was deemed a high-risk close contact to an infected player, and that player is reportedly fellow quarterback Kellen Mond, The Star Tribune reports.

Backup quarterback Nate Stanley has also been quarantined, per NFL Media. The team announced Saturday that "multiple players" were going to be held out because of COVID protocols.

League rules don't require vaccinated players to isolate if they're in close contact with an infected person, and while coach Mike Zimmer did not confirm which players were out, he did say that Browning was vaccinated and available to practice.

Zimmer expressed his frustration Saturday before practice, saying, "it's why people should get vaccinated."

"Quite honestly, after everything we went through last year, I'm not surprised one bit," he said. "I am disappointed that this happened. I'm frustrated, not just with my football players who didn't get vaccinated, but I'm frustrated with everybody . We'll just do the best we can."

The Tribune reports that Mond is vaccinated, so if he tests positive and is asymptomatic, he can return as quickly as 48 hours with two negative tests taken a day apart.

That Cousins has been isolated as a close contact indicates he is unvaccinated and subject to a five-day quarantine. When asked in June about whether he is vaccinated, Cousins said he chooses "to keep my medical history private," the outlet reports.