Vikings' Trishton Jackson avoided ligament damage in knee injury

Good news: Vikings wide receiver Trishton Jackson has no ligament damage in his knee after appearing to suffer a significant injury during Tuesday's practice.

"The news on Trishton Jackson, his injury to his knee, looks like we avoided anything serious," offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said on Wednesday. "No ligament damage there, so that was really encouraging for all of us, including Trishton. He's sore, but looks like he's going to be OK."

That's a pleasant surprise, considering how things looked for Jackson. He fell awkwardly while trying to catch a pass in a 1-on-1 rep and remained down for several minutes, surrounded by trainers. Eventually, the Vikings brought out the cart for Jackson. Teammates went over to show their support to him while he was taken off the field and into the facility for treatment and testing.

It really seemed like Jackson had torn his ACL or suffered some other serious knee injury, so it's wonderful to hear that that's not the case. 

Prior to leaving Tuesday's practice, Jackson was following up an impressive spring with a strong first week of training camp. The fourth-year wide receiver has been making plays all offseason, emerging as a nice depth piece for the Vikings in a loaded wide receiver room.

"That was one of the things — when a guy goes down, you feel for him personally, but also, Trishton's been having a great camp," Phillips said. "He is a younger guy, but I do think he has a lot of leadership qualities in that room. He knows the offense inside and out, being familiar with it, at least some version of it, from L.A. to now. I know he's very useful for guys in that room, trying to help them out throughout the week and (with) the game plans."

After recording 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior at Syracuse, Jackson signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He spent 16 months with the Rams, where Kevin O'Connell and Phillips were coaches. Jackson signed with the Vikings in September 2021 and has spent the last two seasons on Minnesota's practice squad. He has yet to appear in an NFL regular season game.