Vikings WRs disappointed by missed opportunity to battle Jaguars' Ramsey

A marquee name is missing from joint practices between the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars this week in advance of the teams' preseason tilt Saturday.

Jacksonville suspended star defensive back Jalen Ramsey for one week after he critiqued local media outlets, leaving the Vikings' wide receivers disappointed at their missed opportunity to run routes against one of the NFL's best.

"It's kind of a bummer that Jalen (Ramsey)'s not here because he's such a great player," Vikings receiver Adam Thielen said, via TwinCities.com's Dane Mizutani. "It would have been fun to compete against him."

"He's a great corner, and we were looking forward to going against him," receiver Stefon Diggs added. "They went just as far as us (last season) and their defense was their strong point. We were looking forward to it. There will come a time."

Despite Ramsey's absence, Minnesota's top receivers are looking forward to the challenge of battling the league's No. 1 pass defense from 2017.

"You watch them on tape, there's so many contested catches," Thielen said. "There's not a whole lot of open guys catching the ball and turning and running. I think that’s what led to turnovers.

"You know, when there's contested catches and when there's a guy all over a guy when he's trying to catch a football, that usually leads to tipped balls and overthrows and things like that. It's going to be a challenge these next couple of days."