The Vikings on Tuesday designated long snapper Andrew DePaola and kicker Will Reichard as returning to practice.
Minnesota (10-2) will hold its first on-field activity of Week 14 on Wednesday to begin prepping to host Atlanta (6-6) on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The mending Vikings specialists participated in a session Tuesday.
“We’ll see how those guys do throughout the week,” Special Teams Coordinator Matt Daniels said. “Hopefully we’re able to kind of get them back, but we’ll kind of see, you know, where that ends up trending toward.
“They had a session this morning. It went really, really well, and so we’ll see we can have another session here, coming up in a couple days, Daniels added. “Hopefully those guys are good to go, and if they are, then hopefully we have them back. But right now, it’s kind of up in the air.”
DePaola (hand) and Reichard (quadriceps) suffered injuries in Week 9 against the Colts.
Both were placed on Injured Reserve, requiring them to miss at least four games.
Andy Kenutis/Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings filled the gaps with veteran long snapper Jake McQuaide and kicker Parker Romo, who made his NFL debut at Jacksonville in Week 10 by kicking four field goals in a 12-7 win by Minnesota.
Daniels credited McQuaide and Romo for the way they’ve handled their opportunity, as well as the way that punter/holder Ryan Wright has helped each player and handled changes at both ends of the kicking operation.
“[McQuaide’s] preparedness, his readiness, [he] comes in, does an unbelievable job of really kind of connecting and blending and bringing the entire unit together,” Daniels said. “He and Parker actually have some history together. They were both in Detroit’s training camp last year, so they got some familiarity there. And you bring them in with Mr. Wright too, just do a great job of just communicating overall.”
Romo is 11-for-12 on field goals, including a long of 55 last week against Arizona. He is 7-for-8 on extra points.
“He maximized [this opportunity], and surely enough, it is going to propel his career forward. I truly know that,” Daniels said of Romo. “The way this kicker thing is going this this year, surely enough, if he’s not with us, he’s gonna be somewhere, for sure. Hopefully he’s not playing against us.”
Reichard made the first 14 field goals of his career, including four from 50-plus yards, before misfiring on both field goals against the Colts. He persevered to make three extra points in the game and is 23-for-23 on extra points this season.
Update: Later Tuesday, the Vikings announced that they waived McQuaide during another round of roster moves.
Minnesota also released running back Myles Gaskin.
Gaskin has appeared in seven games for the Vikings since first joining the team in 2023.