Post by Purple Pain on Feb 28, 2019 18:55:14 GMT -6
A couple of pieces from Arif Hasan:
Vikings Combine Trends: What might they look for in their offensive draftees?
More at the link: theathletic.com/823680/
Vikings Combine Trends: What might they look for in their defensive draftees?
More at link: theathletic.com/830217/
Vikings Combine Trends: What might they look for in their offensive draftees?
As the NFL combine approaches, NFL teams are working to refine their models — or set new ones up — to figure out which athletes they’ll value enough to invest a draft pick in. NFL general managers are quick to say that nothing at the combine measures “heart” (aside from the cardiac stress tests used by medical staffs) but will also follow guidelines for which tests or workouts they’ll use to narrow down their list of prospects.
Some team metrics are well known — the Seattle Seahawks, for example, prioritize corners with at least 32-inch arms — while others are clear but not as well publicized — like the New England Patriots’ apparent proclivity for players who test well in the three-cone drill.
The Minnesota Vikings are no different. They’ve used workouts and measurables to focus on which prospects best fit their system. Today, we’ll look at the recent Vikings history at each offensive position, excluding quarterback, to see if we can find clues into which players they’ll focus on in this year’s NFL Draft.
Offensive line
Unfortunately, for the position group that fans will pay the most attention to, the Vikings’ history there may not matter — their trends could be interrupted by the arrival of new offensive line coach Rick Dennison.
Dennison, along with new offensive advisor Gary Kubiak, runs a specific system that asks a different set of skills of offensive linemen, and those that Dennison and his teams have drafted have been fairly consistent in their workout thresholds over the years.
Six of the 23 offensive linemen that Dennison teams have drafted were in the 90th percentile or better in general weight-adjusted athleticism for their position, while another five were in the 80th percentile or better. Only two were in the 40th percentile or lower while no offensive linemen in the bottom fifth of athleticism were drafted by Dennison teams. It’s a clear indication that they value movement ability at the position.
While the Vikings and the staffs Dennison has been a part of have both focused on athleticism, they have looked at the specific workouts in slightly different ways. Both the Vikings and Dennison focus on explosion metrics like the broad jump and vertical leap as well as quickness metrics like short shuttle and three-cone. The Vikings, however, have tended to select for explosion while Dennison teams have focused on quickness.
Brian O'Neill
Only two of the Vikings’ nine offensive line draft picks in the Mike Zimmer era had a broad jump shorter than 8 feet, 3 inches. Eight of the 11 interior offensive linemen drafted by Dennison teams had faster-than-average (4.78 seconds) short shuttle scores for the position while six of eight tackles had faster-than-average (7.82 seconds) three-cone scores.
That’s not to say the Vikings have neglected quickness. They still generally grab linemen in the draft who post faster-than-average scores in the quickness tests. While every undrafted free agent offensive lineman they’ve signed since 2014 has posted a broad jump score above NFL average, four of the five undrafted interior offensive linemen had above-average shuttle scores. Of the five undrafted tackles, three posted above-average three-cone scores and a fourth was 0.01 seconds slower than the average.
The one area where the Vikings historically have agreed with Dennison teams is the 20-yard split. When players at the NFL combine run the 40-yard dash, their times at 10 and 20 yards are recorded so that NFL teams can use speed at certain distances if they think those distances translate better to NFL play.
The generally accepted wisdom is that the 10-yard split gives us the best information about an offensive lineman because it measures their ability to fire forward at the snap, but the Vikings and Dennison have consistently picked up linemen who succeed at the 20-yard range, especially as it pertains to offensive tackle.
Of the 13 interior linemen for which we have 20-yard split information, 11 of Dennison’s picks beat the average of 3.03 seconds. Of the six tackles drafted for which we have that information, four of them beat the average.
Every single tackle the Vikings acquired after 2016 — in undrafted free agency, NFL free agency or the draft — beat the NFL average in 20-yard split. For interior offensive linemen, this standard hasn’t held for the Vikings.
So, as you’re looking for offensive linemen the Vikings may target based on combine performance, look for something like the following thresholds:
Some team metrics are well known — the Seattle Seahawks, for example, prioritize corners with at least 32-inch arms — while others are clear but not as well publicized — like the New England Patriots’ apparent proclivity for players who test well in the three-cone drill.
The Minnesota Vikings are no different. They’ve used workouts and measurables to focus on which prospects best fit their system. Today, we’ll look at the recent Vikings history at each offensive position, excluding quarterback, to see if we can find clues into which players they’ll focus on in this year’s NFL Draft.
Offensive line
Unfortunately, for the position group that fans will pay the most attention to, the Vikings’ history there may not matter — their trends could be interrupted by the arrival of new offensive line coach Rick Dennison.
Dennison, along with new offensive advisor Gary Kubiak, runs a specific system that asks a different set of skills of offensive linemen, and those that Dennison and his teams have drafted have been fairly consistent in their workout thresholds over the years.
Six of the 23 offensive linemen that Dennison teams have drafted were in the 90th percentile or better in general weight-adjusted athleticism for their position, while another five were in the 80th percentile or better. Only two were in the 40th percentile or lower while no offensive linemen in the bottom fifth of athleticism were drafted by Dennison teams. It’s a clear indication that they value movement ability at the position.
While the Vikings and the staffs Dennison has been a part of have both focused on athleticism, they have looked at the specific workouts in slightly different ways. Both the Vikings and Dennison focus on explosion metrics like the broad jump and vertical leap as well as quickness metrics like short shuttle and three-cone. The Vikings, however, have tended to select for explosion while Dennison teams have focused on quickness.
Brian O'Neill
Only two of the Vikings’ nine offensive line draft picks in the Mike Zimmer era had a broad jump shorter than 8 feet, 3 inches. Eight of the 11 interior offensive linemen drafted by Dennison teams had faster-than-average (4.78 seconds) short shuttle scores for the position while six of eight tackles had faster-than-average (7.82 seconds) three-cone scores.
That’s not to say the Vikings have neglected quickness. They still generally grab linemen in the draft who post faster-than-average scores in the quickness tests. While every undrafted free agent offensive lineman they’ve signed since 2014 has posted a broad jump score above NFL average, four of the five undrafted interior offensive linemen had above-average shuttle scores. Of the five undrafted tackles, three posted above-average three-cone scores and a fourth was 0.01 seconds slower than the average.
The one area where the Vikings historically have agreed with Dennison teams is the 20-yard split. When players at the NFL combine run the 40-yard dash, their times at 10 and 20 yards are recorded so that NFL teams can use speed at certain distances if they think those distances translate better to NFL play.
The generally accepted wisdom is that the 10-yard split gives us the best information about an offensive lineman because it measures their ability to fire forward at the snap, but the Vikings and Dennison have consistently picked up linemen who succeed at the 20-yard range, especially as it pertains to offensive tackle.
Of the 13 interior linemen for which we have 20-yard split information, 11 of Dennison’s picks beat the average of 3.03 seconds. Of the six tackles drafted for which we have that information, four of them beat the average.
Every single tackle the Vikings acquired after 2016 — in undrafted free agency, NFL free agency or the draft — beat the NFL average in 20-yard split. For interior offensive linemen, this standard hasn’t held for the Vikings.
So, as you’re looking for offensive linemen the Vikings may target based on combine performance, look for something like the following thresholds:
Position Three-cone Short shuttle Broad jump 20-yd split:
Interior OL N/A 4.78 8’3″ N/A
OTs 7.82 N/A 8’3″ 3.03More at the link: theathletic.com/823680/
Vikings Combine Trends: What might they look for in their defensive draftees?
Defensive end
The Vikings have done an excellent job converting athleticism into talent along the defensive line. At defensive end, they’ve continuously invested in mid- and late-round picks and have produced Pro Bowlers and high-level backups from players the rest of the NFL was content to pass on. They’ve done a lot of it by grabbing athletically gifted pass-rushers who had some quality that dropped them in the draft — poor technique, iffy production or off-field concerns — and coaching them up with one of the best defensive line coaches in the league, something we covered during the season.
Over the years, even before head coach Mike Zimmer arrived, the Vikings have emphasized athleticism at the edge position more than anywhere else. Players like Jared Allen, Everson Griffen, Brian Robison, Scott Crichton, Tashawn Bower, Ade Aruna and Stephen Weatherly were in the top 10 percent of various workouts as edge rushers.
Ade Aruna
There are two types of rushers the Vikings target: those with explosion and those with agility. For the most part, they focused on agility in the first few years of the Zimmer era and more explosive athletes in the last three years. They’ll typically choose one or the other, but will sometimes spend up to get both. Players like Danielle Hunter, Griffen and Crichton, for example, qualify in both respects.
It’s difficult to really create pass/fails for this position because players drafted to play edge rusher range between 240 pounds and 290 pounds, meaning what works in terms of agility or explosion at one weight won’t really work at another.
We can find a trend when we take the three-cone time and multiply it by 35. If the new number for the player in question is smaller than their weight, that would be a “pass” — and every edge rusher the Vikings acquired in the first few years of the Zimmer era passed this test. After that, they focused on explosion numbers, namely the broad jump.
For that, we can take the length of the broad jump (in inches) and multiply it by 2.3. If that number is higher than the player’s weight, that would be a “pass” — and every edge rusher the Vikings acquired in the last three years has passed this test (players like Weatherly and Hunter passed both).
That’s despite the fact that both tests have NFL-wide failure rates of 40 percent.
Defensive tackle
At defensive tackle, there’s a similar problem — there’s a wide range of weights to look at for the position. Luckily, they tend to play two different roles: nose tackle and under tackle (commonly called the “three-technique” tackle). Because nose tackles are tasked with the responsibility of taking on double teams and stopping the run while under tackles are meant to win one-on-one and pressure the passer, they require a different set of athletic skills, and the Vikings treat the positions that way.
The Vikings tend to acquire explosiveness at nose tackle, focusing on larger bodies that can generate leg drive at the point of attack. Those players have universally beaten the 8-foot, 4-inch mark in the broad jump (100 inches) and six of the seven have beaten the 28-inch mark in the vertical leap. There hasn’t been much focus on quickness or speed, which isn’t much of a surprise.
At three-technique, it becomes a little more difficult to break down. Seven of the nine most recent acquisitions have faster than NFL-average (for lighter defensive tackles) 20-yard splits, but none of the ones acquired in 2014 or 2015 did. Six of the recent ones beat the NFL average at three-technique in the broad jump (8 feet, 11 inches), and all of those in the first two years of the Zimmer era beat that mark.
Jalyn Holmes
We do know that, generally, the Vikings acquire remarkably light defensive tackles for the three-technique position. In the past five years, only one of the 14 under tackles acquired by the Vikings weighed over 300 pounds at the combine, and that was Will Sutton at 303.
That’s translated into generally very quick defensive tackles — so quick that the Vikings often convert defensive ends to defensive tackle. Crichton, Dylan Bradley, Ifeadi Odenigbo, Jalyn Holmes, Datone Jones, Curtis Cothran and B.J. Dubose have all made the switch from defensive end to defensive tackle either as soon as they arrive or after a couple of years at end with the Vikings.
This has most often been expressed in the “flying 20,” a measure that only looks at the last 20 yards of the 40-yard dash. For under tackles, the NFL average is 2.90 seconds and seven of the nine most recent Vikings beat that mark. They have also mostly matched or exceeded the 9-foot, 2-inch mark (110 inches) in the broad jump.
So, that all leaves us with these thresholds:
Linebacker
The Vikings had doggedly pursued fast linebackers in their drafting history, making sure that all the linebackers that they grabbed ran better than the NFL average of 4.70 seconds in the 40. Only two linebackers — fourth-string depth chart adds for training camp, like Terrell Manning and Terrance Plummer — ran slower than that while the other 13 exceeded that mark.
But since 2016, the Vikings have been less stringent about the 40-yard dash, having drafted Kentrell Brothers and Ben Gedeon and having signed Jake Ganus, Garret Dooley, Hercules Mata’afa and Antwione Williams — all of whom ran slightly slower than 4.70.
The Vikings have also been somewhat consistent in demanding faster three-cone times. In the past three years, seven of the nine Vikings linebackers who performed the three-cone drill in their pro day or at the NFL combine exceeded the NFL average (7.17 seconds). All 11 linebackers they’ve acquired in the last three years performed the broad jump, and eight of them exceeded the NFL average of 9 feet, 10 inches.
They also prioritize the flying 20. The NFL average for off-ball linebackers is 2.00 seconds, and eight of the 11 linebackers exceeded that, with another one having run a 4.53-second 40-yard dash without winning the flying 20.
The Vikings have done an excellent job converting athleticism into talent along the defensive line. At defensive end, they’ve continuously invested in mid- and late-round picks and have produced Pro Bowlers and high-level backups from players the rest of the NFL was content to pass on. They’ve done a lot of it by grabbing athletically gifted pass-rushers who had some quality that dropped them in the draft — poor technique, iffy production or off-field concerns — and coaching them up with one of the best defensive line coaches in the league, something we covered during the season.
Over the years, even before head coach Mike Zimmer arrived, the Vikings have emphasized athleticism at the edge position more than anywhere else. Players like Jared Allen, Everson Griffen, Brian Robison, Scott Crichton, Tashawn Bower, Ade Aruna and Stephen Weatherly were in the top 10 percent of various workouts as edge rushers.
Ade Aruna
There are two types of rushers the Vikings target: those with explosion and those with agility. For the most part, they focused on agility in the first few years of the Zimmer era and more explosive athletes in the last three years. They’ll typically choose one or the other, but will sometimes spend up to get both. Players like Danielle Hunter, Griffen and Crichton, for example, qualify in both respects.
It’s difficult to really create pass/fails for this position because players drafted to play edge rusher range between 240 pounds and 290 pounds, meaning what works in terms of agility or explosion at one weight won’t really work at another.
We can find a trend when we take the three-cone time and multiply it by 35. If the new number for the player in question is smaller than their weight, that would be a “pass” — and every edge rusher the Vikings acquired in the first few years of the Zimmer era passed this test. After that, they focused on explosion numbers, namely the broad jump.
For that, we can take the length of the broad jump (in inches) and multiply it by 2.3. If that number is higher than the player’s weight, that would be a “pass” — and every edge rusher the Vikings acquired in the last three years has passed this test (players like Weatherly and Hunter passed both).
That’s despite the fact that both tests have NFL-wide failure rates of 40 percent.
Defensive tackle
At defensive tackle, there’s a similar problem — there’s a wide range of weights to look at for the position. Luckily, they tend to play two different roles: nose tackle and under tackle (commonly called the “three-technique” tackle). Because nose tackles are tasked with the responsibility of taking on double teams and stopping the run while under tackles are meant to win one-on-one and pressure the passer, they require a different set of athletic skills, and the Vikings treat the positions that way.
The Vikings tend to acquire explosiveness at nose tackle, focusing on larger bodies that can generate leg drive at the point of attack. Those players have universally beaten the 8-foot, 4-inch mark in the broad jump (100 inches) and six of the seven have beaten the 28-inch mark in the vertical leap. There hasn’t been much focus on quickness or speed, which isn’t much of a surprise.
At three-technique, it becomes a little more difficult to break down. Seven of the nine most recent acquisitions have faster than NFL-average (for lighter defensive tackles) 20-yard splits, but none of the ones acquired in 2014 or 2015 did. Six of the recent ones beat the NFL average at three-technique in the broad jump (8 feet, 11 inches), and all of those in the first two years of the Zimmer era beat that mark.
Jalyn Holmes
We do know that, generally, the Vikings acquire remarkably light defensive tackles for the three-technique position. In the past five years, only one of the 14 under tackles acquired by the Vikings weighed over 300 pounds at the combine, and that was Will Sutton at 303.
That’s translated into generally very quick defensive tackles — so quick that the Vikings often convert defensive ends to defensive tackle. Crichton, Dylan Bradley, Ifeadi Odenigbo, Jalyn Holmes, Datone Jones, Curtis Cothran and B.J. Dubose have all made the switch from defensive end to defensive tackle either as soon as they arrive or after a couple of years at end with the Vikings.
This has most often been expressed in the “flying 20,” a measure that only looks at the last 20 yards of the 40-yard dash. For under tackles, the NFL average is 2.90 seconds and seven of the nine most recent Vikings beat that mark. They have also mostly matched or exceeded the 9-foot, 2-inch mark (110 inches) in the broad jump.
So, that all leaves us with these thresholds:
Linebacker
The Vikings had doggedly pursued fast linebackers in their drafting history, making sure that all the linebackers that they grabbed ran better than the NFL average of 4.70 seconds in the 40. Only two linebackers — fourth-string depth chart adds for training camp, like Terrell Manning and Terrance Plummer — ran slower than that while the other 13 exceeded that mark.
But since 2016, the Vikings have been less stringent about the 40-yard dash, having drafted Kentrell Brothers and Ben Gedeon and having signed Jake Ganus, Garret Dooley, Hercules Mata’afa and Antwione Williams — all of whom ran slightly slower than 4.70.
The Vikings have also been somewhat consistent in demanding faster three-cone times. In the past three years, seven of the nine Vikings linebackers who performed the three-cone drill in their pro day or at the NFL combine exceeded the NFL average (7.17 seconds). All 11 linebackers they’ve acquired in the last three years performed the broad jump, and eight of them exceeded the NFL average of 9 feet, 10 inches.
They also prioritize the flying 20. The NFL average for off-ball linebackers is 2.00 seconds, and eight of the 11 linebackers exceeded that, with another one having run a 4.53-second 40-yard dash without winning the flying 20.
More at link: theathletic.com/830217/
... and neither is this Chris guy.