The Minnesota Vikings will only get one home game during the 2026 preseason, but they’ll be spending it getting prepared against one of the more interesting teams in the AFC.
Ahead of their preseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium on 22 August, the Vikings will be hosting the league’s other purple team, the Baltimore Ravens, for a pair of joint practice sessions on 19 and 20 August at the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center in Eagan.
The Ravens were the last team eliminated from the NFL playoff race
last year, and it took until, quite literally, the final second of the season, as Tyler Loop’s field goal attempt that would have won them the AFC North sailed wide to the right as time ran out in the final regular season game of the year. That sent the Pittsburgh Steelers to the playoffs instead and, ultimately, led to the end of the John Harbaugh era in Baltimore. Harbaugh moved on to take the head coaching job with the New York Giants (who the Vikings will open the preseason against), and the Ravens hired former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to replace Harbaugh on the sidelines.
That means that the Vikings will get to practice against former MVP Lamar Jackson and one of the league’s premier running backs in Derrick Henry. . .at least for a little bit. The Ravens are, obviously, a team in transition, so it will be interesting to see how Minter and company handle their first joint practice sessions under his tenure as the team’s head coach.
After their preseason games against the Giants and the Ravens, the Vikings will wrap up the preseason with a trip to Denver to take on the Broncos.
If I recall correctly, I believe the joint practice sessions generally take place after training camp has wrapped up, so I’m not sure how much of the sessions will be open to the public or anything like that. I’m sure there will be more information on those sorts of things as we get closer to the start of camp in late July.
What do you think of the Vikings having joint practice sessions with the Ravens, folks?
