The Vikings still have a safety problem, and Jakobe Thomas is still on the sideline. The rookie has not played a single snap this season, sitting out each of Minnesota's five games before the bye.
That is why the Vikings Schedule now matters in a different way. Week 7 brings the Colts, and the next roster call could decide whether Thomas finally gets a regular-season chance after weeks of inactivity.
Minnesota took Thomas with the 98th overall pick in April, then saw him hit a setback in training camp with a back injury. He returned enough to play in one preseason game against the Broncos, and the brief look was encouraging: five tackles, three solo tackles, a 79.4 tackling grade that ranked second-best among Vikings defenders in that game, and a 66.0 run defense grade that ranked seventh-best.
But preseason progress has not translated into the regular season. Harrison Smith and Josh Metellus are both ranked among the ten worst safeties in the NFL this season on Pro Football Focus, with Smith dead last and Metellus sixth-worst, so the need is obvious even before Thomas's name enters the picture.
Andrew Krammer of the Minnesota Star Tribune wrote about Thomas on Friday, and special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said the rookie has been asking when he will finally get on the field in a regular-season game. That is the part that makes the situation harder to ignore: Minnesota needs help at safety, but its first-year pick has not taken a snap.
Thomas looks like a player the Vikings may have to use in stages, maybe first on special teams, but the bigger question is whether they will make him active for Week 7. Until that happens, the team's safety depth remains a problem with no easy fix.
