MINNEAPOLIS -- We're covering a wide variety of topics in this week's edition of the Minnesota Vikings Twitter mailbag, from the future of German wide receiver Moritz Böhringer to the team's tough early schedule, the battle at right tackle and the well-being of birds flying by the team's new stadium.

@GoesslingESPN #vikingsmail How would Vikes keep MoBö if he doesn't make 53? We lost Gilbert Brown from pracsquad, don't want 2 repeat twice

— Matt Cleckner (@mattcleckner) June 22, 2016

@GoesslingESPN: Good morning, everyone. We'll get started here, as I attempt to apply a bit of perspective to the Böhringer situation without being too curmudgeonly. I got a couple questions this week about the German receiver, and I get that fans are excited about him. He's a good story and a prospect with some tantalizing physical traits. But in a day of rookie camp, three open organized team activities and three days of minicamp, we've seen Böhringer drop a handful of passes that should be routine for NFL wideouts, deposit one of his meals on the turf at Winter Park, and admit his first several weeks with the Vikings have taught him he now has to treat football as a "job, not a hobby." Böhringer certainly has ability; we've seen him make a few solid catches, and the Vikings are optimistic about his ability to master the playbook. But this is part of why the Böhringer experiment is interesting -- players as raw as he is, without some tutelage in college football, usually aren't on NFL rosters. The place for players at his level of development, in general, is the practice squad. If he shows enough in training camp and the preseason to push for a roster spot, the Vikings would likely try to get him on the 53-man roster. If he doesn't, and the Vikings don't want to put him on their active roster, I'm not sure there will be another team jumping at the chance to spend one of its precious roster spots on a player who would now have to learn another new playbook and acclimate himself to a different part of a foreign country. I get that fans are excited about him, but good stories do not assure a spot on an NFL roster. Let's slow down before we start comparing him to Brown -- a player who became a key cog for the Green Bay Packers' 1996 Super Bowl championship team -- and let the process play out. My hunch is, he'll be cut before the season and wind up on the Vikings' practice squad.

#vikingsmail @GoesslingESPN with CAR and GB early in the schedule should fans worry about a slow start. What effect on rest of the season?

— Alexander (@amdavis1020) June 23, 2016

@GoesslingESPN: There's certainly some risk of a slow start to the season, particularly if the Vikings stumble out of the gates on Sept. 11 against the Tennessee Titans. Their next two games, at least before the season, appear to constitute the toughest stretch on their schedule, with an emotionally-charged prime-time matchup against the Packers preceding a road trip to the Carolina Panthers. The Vikings were hoping for a blockbusting debut at U.S. Bank Stadium, and they got it: A rematch of the NFC North title game against their biggest rival in Week 2. The Packers have gotten off to some slow starts in recent years, but they theoretically should be much healthier than they were last year, as the two rivals stage their earliest meeting in a season since 2008. And counting playoff games, the Panthers have won 13 in a row at home. It's a daunting stretch, but if the Vikings want to remain among the league's best teams, they'll likely face more slates like these, as the NFL seeks to put high-profile matchups on TV early in the season. The Packers, for example, have been on national TV in the season's first two weeks each of the last five years. But I don't expect Mike Zimmer to instill a fearful mindset in his team, and things appear to get easier for the Vikings after their Week 6 bye. If they can win at Tennessee and take one of the two games against Green Bay and Carolina, they should be in good shape. I'm guessing I know which one of those two games Vikings fans would prefer to win, if they had to pick just one.

@GoesslingESPN Who will win the battle at right tackle, Andre Smith or Phil Loadholt? #VikingsMail

— Ty Smith (@Dukee4life) June 23, 2016

@GoesslingESPN: The Vikings gave both veterans some time with the first-string offense during the offseason program -- as much as that's worth -- but when things get serious in training camp, I'd give the edge to Andre Smith. The Vikings guaranteed $1 million of Smith's $3.5 million deal, while Phil Loadholt has no guaranteed money in a restructured contract after returning from two season-ending surgeries (though, it should be noted, his contract still carries a $1.75 million cap hit from his 2013 signing bonus). Contract structures don't automatically dictate who will win a spot, but they do give some sense of what a team is thinking about a player. No matter who wins the battle, I'm not sure I see the loser being on the final 53-man roster. Let's assume for a minute the Vikings' starting offensive line looks like this: Matt Kalil, Alex Boone, John Sullivan, Brandon Fusco and Smith. The team would likely keep eight or nine linemen, meaning the backups have to offer some versatility. Joe Berger, I'd assume, will be one of them. So would fourth-round pick Willie Beavers, unless he's a disaster in training camp. I'd guess the Vikings want to keep T.J. Clemmings around, and Mike Harris offers the ability to play guard or tackle. Loadholt doesn't give you as much versatility, and if Smith wins the starting right tackle job, it's possible Loadholt could be the odd man out. In that case, if the Vikings have made their decision well before the start of the season, they might release him early out of respect for his career in Minnesota, giving him time to catch on with another team. But that's just my hunch right now. With so many linemen on the roster, things could go in a number of different directions.

@GoesslingESPN with the new stadium being so reflective, is there anything in place to save birds from flying into it? #VikingsMail

— mfm (@mattuntalented8) June 23, 2016

@GoesslingESPN: The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority has studied the issue of U.S. Bank Stadium's possibly deadly effect on birds, thanks to its glass doors and clear plastic roof that could deceive birds into colliding with the structure, but MSFA chair Michele Kelm-Helgen has twice delayed an announcement on results of the study. The Vikings and the MSFA have been working with 3M to possibly apply a film to the plastic roof, which would be undetectable to humans but could be seen by birds, but there has been no announcement yet about whether the film will be put into use. At this point, concerns about the stadium's effect on birds remain mostly hypothetical, but animal rights activists have kept the issue in the public eye, and the MSFA will likely have to address it at some point in the near future.

We'll wrap things up here for the week -- thanks for the great questions, everyone. I'll be on vacation next week, but when I return, I'll have plenty more from the time I spent in Texas with Adrian Peterson earlier this week. Enjoy your weekend, and we'll talk soon.