Running back Adrian Peterson suffered a high left ankle sprain and will be in a walking boot through at least Thursday. He'll try to do some work in practice on Friday to determine if he'll be able to play in Sunday's game at Atlanta, coach Leslie Frazier said today.

Frazier called it a "Grade 1-type of sprain" (the least serious of the grades) and said there was a "little bit of ligament damage" based on results to this morning's MRI.

"The good news is it's nothing more serious than that; it's an ankle sprain and he will recover from it," Frazier said. "It's just a matter of time."

Peterson injured the ankle near the end of the first quarter of Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Raiders. He didn't return, finishing with 26 yards rushing and a touchdown on six carries.

Frazier was asked about the delicate balance between wanting to get the team's best player back and not wanting to risk further injury during a 2-8 season.

"We'll monitor it," Frazier said. "We don't want to put him at risk. You know how valuable he is to our team and our franchise. We'll monitor where he is and try to make the decision on what's best for him, what's best for our team as well."

(Psst: If I were a Fantasy Football player and I had Adrian Peterson on my team, I wouldn't play him this week.)

In other injury news, Frazier said:

  • TE Kyle Rudolph suffered a quadriceps contusion and is day to day.
  • TE Visanthe Shiancoe has a mild hamstring strain.
  • He expects OLB Erin Henderson to return this week. Henderson missed Sunday's game because of a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, a look at today's league statistics shows Jared Allen has lost his lead in sacks. He was held without a sack on Sunday and now trails the Cowboys' DeMarcus Ware, 14-13 1/2.