Bernard Berrian
Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian, listed as questionable on the injury report Friday, will be active for the Vikings' regular-season opener today against the Browns. Berrian injured his hamstring in the first quarter of the Vikings' exhibition opener at Indianapolis and did not play in the final three preseason games. He was limited all last week in practice, raising the possibility that he might sit out today. However, Berrian tested the hamstring in pregame warmups and obviously felt he was good to go.
Part of the issue is that Berrian has never suffered a hamstring injury in his career before this and did not know exactly what to expect. As expected, Sage Rosenfels has been designated the Vikings' third quarterback for today's game, meaning Tarvaris Jackson will be the backup to Brett Favre. If Rosenfels enters before the fourth quarter, Favre and Jackson would not be eligible to return to the game.
The biggest surprise on the Vikings' inactive list is defensive tackle Fred Evans, who is listed as the backup nose tackle to Pat Williams and started late last season after Williams suffered a shoulder injury. Evans was not listed on the injury report last week, so his absence evidently isn't injury related. The Vikings other inactives are wide receivers Jaymar Johnson and Greg Lewis; cornerback Asher Allen; safety Jamarca Sanford; linebacker Erin Henderson and center Kory Litchtensteiger. Henderson is expected to miss about a month because of a calf injury. Lewis was signed last week after wide receiver Bobby Wade was released.
