First break for Vikings

Photo by John Cross

The Vikings have the day off and training camp is closed today (Tuesday). On Monday night, the team held its first of three scheduled night practices. Following is The Free Press' coverage of Monday at MSU:

* Coach Mike Zimmer wants to have a more physical team than past Vikings teams, and the road to that started on Monday night, especially during goal-line situation work. That and more in our Training Camp Notebook.

* Safety Jamarca Sanford is in a battle to retain what's been his starting job, but the Vikings' new defense may be an even better fit for him.

* The Associated Press writes about tight end Kyle Rudolph, who understands that a big raise comes with big expectations.

* Free Press photographer John Cross has more pix on his training camp photo gallery.

The team returns to practice on Wednesday with a morning walk-thru and a full-pad practice in the afternoon.