The Las Vegas Raiders take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday
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00:00 The Minnesota Vikings kick off their preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders at 1.25pm
00:07 Pacific on Sunday.
00:08 I'm Claudette Montana-Pattison with SI Right Now and joining me is Will Raggetts from Inside
00:13 the Vikings and Hondo Carpenter from Raider Maven.
00:16 Well, let's start with you because we do have some breaking news revolving quarterback
00:21 Kirk Cousins.
00:22 He has tested positive for COVID-19 and he will miss this game on Sunday.
00:27 Yeah, Kirk was not feeling great on Thursday morning when he arrived at the Vikings facility.
00:33 He was sent home, missed their walkthrough and practice.
00:36 Kevin O'Connell talked to reporters on Friday, gave an update that Kirk did test positive
00:41 for COVID.
00:42 Mild symptoms.
00:43 He's not going to make the trip to Vegas, but they're expecting him back next week for
00:47 joint practices with the 49ers leading into the Vikings' home preseason game against San
00:51 Francisco.
00:52 We are certainly wishing him a speedy recovery.
00:55 I want to pivot a little bit here because this is also Kevin O'Connell's debut as Vikings
01:01 head coach, right?
01:02 He's an offensive-minded guy.
01:03 What do you expect to see from the offense on Sunday?
01:06 Well, from a scheme perspective, I don't know if we're going to see too much.
01:10 I don't think the Vikings, there's no reason for Kevin O'Connell to reveal a ton in that
01:15 regard, but this is a huge opportunity for the backup quarterbacks.
01:19 With Kirk Cousins not playing at all, it's going to be Kellen Mond and Sean Mannion probably
01:24 each for roughly half of the game.
01:26 The two have kind of struggled during training camp, so this is an opportunity for them to
01:30 step up in a game setting and hopefully play well.
01:33 Otherwise, the Vikings may need to look outside of their building for some additional help
01:37 at backup quarterback.
01:39 What about defensively?
01:40 Yeah, defensively, there's a few rookies to keep an eye on.
01:44 The Vikings' top two picks, Lewis Seen, the safety out of Georgia, and Andrew Booth Jr.,
01:49 the cornerback out of Clemson.
01:50 The first time we're going to see them in a Vikings uniform.
01:53 Only a preseason game, but those are two guys who are competing for starting jobs.
01:57 Playing well and showing what they've learned throughout these first three weeks of camp
02:01 would go a long way in that regard.
02:03 All right, Hondo, on to you.
02:05 We've got to talk about the silver and black.
02:07 We know that Devontae Adams and Derek Haar will not play on Sunday, but what else can
02:11 Raiders fans look forward to?
02:14 I think there's a lot to watch.
02:15 First, you could start along the offensive line where they played very well against Jacksonville.
02:20 I've heard some people say, "Yeah, but they played a lot against some Jacksonville backups."
02:24 But yeah, those guys are still getting paid to be in the NFL.
02:27 Then I think you go and you look at some guys where some battles are, the defensive backfield.
02:32 You're looking at some guys at linebacker.
02:34 A couple of names that I would keep people to really watch is how much are they going
02:38 to play Nate Hobbs?
02:39 Nate has had a great camp.
02:41 He was a great rookie last year.
02:43 He's clearly moved himself up.
02:45 He was a starter last year, but a guy that could possibly start in the outside corner.
02:50 Going to be interested to see how much he plays.
02:52 Don't expect the ton, but still excited to see how much.
02:56 When you go over to that defensive, staying on that defensive side of the ball, I want
03:00 to watch a Malcolm Koontz, who's a developing young player.
03:03 There's a lot of guys over there fighting for some really intricate positions.
03:08 On offense, it's Zemir White.
03:10 He's the star running back out of Georgia.
03:12 Boy, did he look good against Jacksonville.
03:14 You want to continue to watch his emergence because the more that he plays and the better
03:19 he looks, it gives the Raiders a whole bunch of different looks and the possibility of
03:24 even trading some guys.
03:26 This Raider team is not like the Raider teams of the past decade or even probably the last
03:30 15 years.
03:31 There's a lot of sharks in the NFL circle in the roster because there's going to be
03:35 some good players cut.
03:37 [Outro Music]