EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings play at U.S. Bank Stadium on Saturday, but we're not rushing there.

First, the club is hosting highly anticipated joint practices today and tomorrow with the Baltimore Ravens. Both days will feature competition at TCO Performance Center that kicks off at noon (CT).

Baltimore went 8-9 last season and has returning starters at prominent positions, including QB Lamar Jackson, RB Derrick Henry, WR Zay Flowers, TE Mark Andrews and LT Ronnie Stanley on offense, and LB Roquan Smith, CBs Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins, and S Kyle Hamilton on defense, among others.

The Ravens also have a fair amount of new blood, starting at the top with first-year Head Coach Jesse Minter, who served as Chargers defensive coordinator in 2024-25 after holding that title at Michigan in 2022-23 (and overlapping with Vikings backup QB J.J. McCarthy during that period). Baltimore also made two splash moves in free agency, signing star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson and bringing back 18-year veteran Calais Campbell, who played for Baltimore from 2020-22. Additionally, the club bulked up on the other side of the line of scrimmage, drafting Penn State G Vega Ioane with the 14^th overall pick in 2026.

Teams tend to prioritize first- and second-team reps in joint practices and favor their starters playing in the controlled periods as opposed to suiting up in the subsequent exhibition matchup (a stage for guys lower on the depth chart). Of course, there are exceptions, such as Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel opting to play starters in the game after a poor showing by them on the second day of practice last year.

Accordingly, players are looking forward to the benefits of butting heads with anybody but themselves.

"It's gonna be physical. That's an organization that's known for their physicality," Joshua Metellus said. "They're trying to reclaim their stake in their division and their place in the league. The same way [for us]. Two very hungry teams going out there, you know, trying to see where we're at going into Week 1."

On Monday, the safety elaborated on the keys to getting the most out of the high-intensity sessions:

"Being fundamentally sound" is of the utmost importance, he shared. "That's one of our football philosophy things, but I think on both sides, if both teams are fundamentally sound, we're able to get good work. … We want clean football so we both can see a true test of where we're at. On our end, my job is gonna be get the communication, get the guys ready to play, making sure we're playing clean, calm football."

Metellus expects that emotions will run high, and it will feel like a game, but it's ultimately practice.

Since there's a surplus of interesting items to observe, here are three we're especially intrigued to see:

1. Explosive quarterbacks

In Week 2 of Kyler Murray's rookie season, the 1^st overall pick in 2019 completed passes of 54, 6 and 18 yards on consecutive plays near the start of the fourth quarter at Baltimore. The Ravens were penalized for defensive pass interference on the next snap and then David Johnson rushed for a 1-yard touchdown.

Afterward, Murray nailed a 2-point throw and turned a 20-9 deficit into a 20-17 nail-biter.

Jackson, the 32^nd overall pick one year prior, responded with a couple first-down-gaining throws and another chain-moving rush before Baltimore tacked on a field goal. That proved to be all she wrote as Arizona failed to advance past its 26 on its final two possessions. Murray finished the contest with 349 passing yards, his sixth-most in 87 games, but rushed for only 4 and wasn't responsible for a touchdown.

Jackson, meanwhile, accounted for 272 yards and two scores through the air and paced all rushers with 120 yards on 16 carries (7.5 avg.). The QBs combined for 745 total yards and committed zero turnovers.

We prefaced this section with that because it's the lone instance of Murray and Jackson, two of history's best dual-threats, meeting in a competitive football environment until this week, and fireworks are likely.

Murray and Jackson, both 29 years old, are both building comfort in new offenses this year. That lends itself to growing pains in practice, which is the perfect stage to make and learn from mistakes. That fact is worth remembering if you attend the sessions, and so are the protections in place for quarterbacks. In other words, defenders don't have the freedom to hit Murray or Jackson. Also, the odds are slim to none that they will use their legs in the same ways they will in the regular season when reps are truly "live."

Still, it will be a thrill to see their skill sets inside the pocket and outside of it juxtaposed.

Although Murray and Jackson are different-sized players, their styles are similarly versatile and exciting. Since Murray's debut season, they've manufactured the first- and fourth-most games of a 110 or higher passer rating and 50-plus rushing yards; Jackson owns 20 in that span, while Murray has four. (For what it's worth, 22 different players have such a game; Josh Allen, 7, and Jalen Hurts, 5, are second and third.)

We prefaced this section with that because it's the lone instance of Murray and Jackson, two of history's best dual-threats, meeting in a competitive football environment until this week, and fireworks are likely.

Murray and Jackson, both 29 years old, are both building comfort in new offenses this year. That lends itself to growing pains in practice, which is the perfect stage to make and learn from mistakes. That fact is worth remembering if you attend the sessions, and so are the protections in place for quarterbacks. In other words, defenders don't have the freedom to hit Murray or Jackson. Also, the odds are slim to none that they will use their legs in the same ways they will in the regular season when reps are truly "live."

Still, it will be a thrill to see their skill sets inside the pocket and outside of it juxtaposed.

Although Murray and Jackson are different-sized players, their styles are similarly versatile and exciting. Since Murray's debut season, they've manufactured the first- and fourth-most games of a 110 or higher passer rating and 50-plus rushing yards; Jackson owns 20 in that span, while Murray has four. (For what it's worth, 22 different players have such a game; Josh Allen, 7, and Jalen Hurts, 5, are second and third.)

2. Darling rookies

Only the Vikings have Chuck Demmings and everything he brings: an effervescent personality, daily quotability and violent closure on passes. Those are three big reasons why he's emerged as quickly as any newcomer on the roster as a smile generator in the building and legit candidate for defensive snaps, despite his fifth-round status.

Baltimore, however, does have Ja'Kobi Lane — the Ravens version of Demmings in that he's been a darling at training camp. But instead of contesting catches and accumulating breakups in the secondary, Lane is forming a reputation as a contested-catch juggernaut and big-play threat for Baltimore's offense.

In a compilation of grabs posted to the Ravens X account (viewed 2.2 million times), Lane gathered an out-of-body pass from Jackson with one hand as he tumbled to the grass but managed to stay in bounds.

Ravens Offensive Coordinator Declan Doyle, once an offensive assistant in New Orleans, compared Lane to former Saints All-Pro wide receiver Michael Thomas, whose social media moniker is @Cantguardmike.

Lane's is @cantGuardJak1 — and not by coincidence. Thomas is the ‘G.O.A.T.’ in Lane’s eyes.

"He is a very different player, but the guy that I was around that his hands remind me of is Mike Thomas," Doyle noted. "Mike Thomas had these strong hands where he could pull it down in a way, and you threw it in the vicinity, and you felt like he was going to go get it. There is a lot of that feeling."

Buzzing tremendously throughout their respective camps, we're hopeful to see some reps between Demmings and Lane in 1-on-1, 7-on-7 and/or 11-on-11 settings. Lane, by the way, is a third-round pick out of USC and logged three catches for 38 yards and a touchdown in his first exhibition last Saturday.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Lane is slotted behind former Gopher Rashod Bateman on the depth chart.

3. Battle of the Moving Companies

The Vikings have a revamped run game and a refreshed defensive line overflowing with youth, whereas the Ravens have reconfigured lines on both sides and reaffirmed their desire to identify as blue-collared.

Let's keep going.

The visiting backfield has "King Henry." Derrick Henry is one of five active running backs over the 10,000-scrimmage yardage mark — by a resounding margin — who has averaged 101.2 yards per game since 2019 (10.7 more than the No. 2 rusher, Jonathan Taylor) and leads NFL RBs with 5.6 yards a pop over the past two seasons. The Purple have one of the other backs across the 10K barrier in Aaron Jones, Sr., as well as an ascending, tone-setting style runner in Jordan Mason, and a rookie lightning bug in Demond Claiborne.

Stay with us now.

Minnesota's first-round pick, DL Caleb Banks, was touted as a swing for the fences. He has a rare athletic profile at 6-foot-6 and 327 pounds and the quicks to make men his size look a fool off the ball. He's raw, though, and has played in only four games, including last week's preseason debut, since 2024 at Florida due to foot injuries. Banks is getting his football legs back underneath him as he dials into Brian Flores' defense.

Baltimore's first-round pick, Ioane, was viewed by the masses as one of the surest selections in the draft to be an elite player for the next decade — technically sound, already, and feared for his finishing power.

Ioane is starting at right guard. Banks has been sprinkling in with the first defense.

We're excited to watch them — and plenty of others — compete for the winning inch.

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