The Minnesota Vikings received a bit of good news on Monday after defensive tackle Kevin Williams underwent a magnetic resonance imaging test on his injured right knee.
In a released statement from coach Leslie Frazier, the team announced that Williams suffered a hyperextension to his knee that caused a "significant bone contusion as well as a posterior capsular strain" but avoided any ligament damage.
"Kevin was fortunate in that there was no injury to any of his ligaments," Frazier said in the statement.
The team didn't offer a timeline on when Williams might be able to return to practice, but no damage to the ligaments is probably a good sign after Williams was hit low on a chop block by San Francisco backup linemen Joe Looney in Sunday's third preseason game.
On a third-quarter play that was all but over, Looney lunged at Williams' knees. One of Williams' feet stuck in the turf and his knee hyperextended. Williams stayed down and had to be helped off by athletic trainers. Looney wasn't penalized on the play, but NFL is looking to eliminate peel-back blocks with a new rule this year and Looney's block would seemingly be close to the new ruling.
Frazier said after the game he hadn't seen the hit, but the team was concerned. Frazier said the team might send the play into the league for review.
"The guys upstairs were telling me that was one of those plays where we will probably want to send it into the league," Frazier said after the game. "They were pretty upset when they saw it."
Minnesota is also without rookie first-round defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, who underwent knee surgery last week. Floyd is out for the rest of the preseason but is expected back for the regular season. Third-year defensive tackle Christian Ballard is away from the team because of a personal matter and has been placed by the Vikings on the active-left squad list. Frazier isn't sure when Ballard might return.
After Pro Bowl fullback Jerome Felton was suspended Monday for the first three games of the season, Minnesota maybe at least got a bit of good news with Williams' injury.
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