Friday was the third day of practice he missed this week, and the foot injury that has sidelined him, now for the rest of the season. The Bills are shallow at safety, and now have to rely of the trio of James Ihedigbo, Sergio Brown, and Jonathan Meeks going forward at free safety, with Corey Graham holding down the strong safety duties.

A year after starting 15 games for the Vikings and making 103 tackles, he took a backseat and became a backup in 2015. He made just 34 tackles in 2015 and had three pass deflections. He slots in to compete for a starting job in Buffalo but if he doesn't pan out, it's only a one-year deal that Buffalo won't suffer from too much.

This is good news for the Vikings as they have to deal with the vaunted passing attack of the Cardinals on Thursday. For the season Blanton has totaled 30 tackles but no other statistics.

Blanton injured his knee and ankle late in last Sunday\'s game, which was kept him out of practice all week. Blanton, the starting strong safety, will be replaced by Antone Exum Jr. for Sunday\'s game. Matthew Stafford and his receivers will get a boost with the Vikings forced to turn to their back up strong safety. Blanton\'s availability for next week is in doubt, as he did not get much work in at all during practice this week.