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Updated at 9:42 a.m. EDT Monday, Oct. 13
The Vikings’ defensive players came to regard E.J. Henderson as the unit’s leader following an outstanding 2007 season when he moved from the weak side to middle linebacker. And Henderson was off to another terrific start in ’08 before suffering a season-ending injury to his toes. In the short term, the replacement will be David Herron, who started in Weeks Five and Six and had three tackles. But it appears that the team will consider moving an outside linebacker — most likely Ben Leber — to replace Henderson at some point. Herron is primarily a special-teamer, and although he did not look out of place in the Saints game, he is neither the tackler nor the blitzer, much less the leader, that Henderson is. Herron played mostly on first and second downs, coming off in nickel packages. Leber’s shortcoming comes in coverage, but he fared well in Henderson’s absence, even in passing situations.
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