What player(s) breaks out in 2021?

To truly find under-the-radar players, we’ll only look at players with three or fewer years of experience, players who have played fewer than 50 percent of the snaps every year they’ve been in the NFL and only those picked outside of the first three rounds of the NFL draft.

Kyle Hinton, guard

It’s difficult to imagine that the Vikings could simultaneously free up cap space by letting go of Riley Reiff and find a way to solve both guard positions heading into this offseason. Losing Reiff likely means moving Ezra Cleveland out to tackle and leaving both guard positions open for upgrades. While one of those positional issues might be solved by an early draft pick, there are only so many available. That leaves the other guard position to be taken over by a late-round pick, an undrafted free-agent rookie from the 2021 pool or by someone already on the roster.

While Kyle Hinton is an unlikely candidate for such a role, the Vikings might have given us a clue on his development after promoting him to the active roster in late December, leaving just him and Dru Samia to compete for a guard spot. Samia’s underperformance opens the door for super-athlete Hinton to take on the role after acclimating to the jump from Division II to the NFL, and the significant need for the Vikings to find an answer there means he might get ample opportunity.

Kenny Willekes, defensive end

The Vikings will likely have a fairly open competition among edge rushers — either to start outright or to play a key backup role, depending on the investments made at the position. The crew of rookies and practice-squad acquisitions didn’t resolve anything coming out of 2020, and there’s all kinds of room for an enterprising pass rusher to take on the role in 2021.

Willekes, who was placed on injured reserve several days before the 53-man roster cutoff date, didn’t get the chance to prove himself among that group as he was limited to the third-team practice unit during training camp. He was remarkably productive in college, but that productivity took time to emerge. Given the outsized success that walk-on college players seem to have compared to other UDFAs, there’s a chance that Willekes could show out in his second year with the Vikings.

Brandon Dillon, tight end

If the Vikings move on from Kyle Rudolph, we’ll likely see some investment at the position to round out the depth chart, but with Irv Smith slated to take on the role as the lead tight end, there’s unlikely to be any top-end investment. That means there will be some tough competition at third- and fourth-string tight end, a valuable role in the Minnesota offense.

Dillon had a pretty remarkable showing for an undrafted player in his rookie camp in 2019. His 2020 camp performance wasn’t as explosive, but he did improve as a blocker — something he’ll need to keep doing to see the field. His athletic potential is enormous, and he could become a complementary matchup weapon if he has another good camp.

Jordan Brailford, defensive end

Brailford wasn’t in camp with the Vikings in 2020, as he was signed off the Washington practice squad in October. Though productive in college, he skipped the 2019 season to prepare for the draft and didn’t get much time at his preferred position on the edge. That hybrid role and his injury history made him a risky draft prospect, and he fell to the bottom of the seventh round as a result, nearly earning the title of Mr. Irrelevant. Still, he’s an athlete with great explosive ability, good speed — staples in the edge rushers the Vikings have targeted — and an appealing 37.5-inch vertical leap and 1.62-second 10-yard split.

He only saw the field for the final five games of the season, seeing more than 10 snaps just twice. He only generated three pressures, but three pressures in 31 total pass-rushing snaps isn’t bad. Not only that, he showed up as an effective player in the run game and forced a key fumble in the third quarter against the Jaguars in Week 13 when the Vikings were holding on to a three-point lead. That burst of production doesn’t prove he’ll be a great player, but it should get his foot in the door to compete for a spot in 2021.

James Lynch, defensive tackle

Not only do the Vikings have openings at edge rusher but at defensive tackle, too. They didn’t see much production out of the position last year and have been struggling to find an answer since Sheldon Richardson left. Could the answer come from a second-year player coming into his own at the position after switching from edge rusher in college? Lynch’s pre-draft performance numbers were strong, but he doesn’t fit the size profile of an edge rusher. His first year in that role was underwhelming, and he had a poor enough performance in camp that it was conceivable he could be cut despite being a fourth-round pick.

Underwhelming rookie years for mid-round picks shouldn’t doom defensive tackles. Grady Jarrett, a fifth-round pick, produced nine pressures his rookie year. Akiem Hicks, selected in the third round, only produced 10 pressures as a rookie. So, too, with fourth-round pick David Onyemata, who emerged last year as a high-level tackle. While that’s substantially better than Lynch’s one pressure, it does show that underwhelming rookie years shouldn’t determine a player’s future. The fact that Lynch was switching positions and has a clear path to make an impact in Year 2 might mean he could break out.

Cameron Smith, linebacker

We didn’t get to see Cameron Smith play this year due to heart surgery before the season, but after the underperformance of the stable of linebackers who replaced Ben Gedeon and Anthony Barr — and then Eric Kendricks — there’s an opportunity for Smith, who had a good training camp in 2019.

Absent a free agent or relatively highly drafted linebacker, Smith will get a free shot at the third linebacker spot, one that saw about 400 snaps last year. Coming out of the draft, Smith was purported to be a perfect run-stuffing linebacker. His showing in camp also demonstrated coverage skill, making him an interesting contrast to the linebackers the Vikings featured on the depth chart.

D.J. Wonnum, defensive end

With some opportunity available for edge rushers, it makes sense that the snap leader among rookies and second-year players would have an inside track to earning the spot. While his 8.3 pressure rate isn’t spectacular — 64th out of 84 edge rushers with 200 pass-rushing snaps — and is boosted by an unusual number of unblocked snaps, it’s telling that the Vikings gave a fourth-round rookie so much playing time.

A developmental prospect out of South Carolina, Vikings defensive line coach Andre Patterson compared Wonnum to Danielle Hunter coming out of college and pointed out that his frame made him a unique prospect. With a better pass-rush arsenal, he could morph into the kind of pass rusher who can offset the kind of attention we expect Hunter to see as he returns to the lineup.

Armon Watts, defensive tackle

Wonnum might have a great shot at the defensive end role given his previous experience there, and that’s also true of defensive tackle Watts, who earned more snaps there than Lynch and had a few games this year with over 30 snaps. His pressure production — 54th of 110 interior defenders — was adequate compared to the rest of the NFL and miles ahead of any other Minnesota interior defender, and his run-stopping ability has been a boon for the team as well.

Watts struggled early and took a few games to put things together, but he finished the year strong and was likely the best performer at the position overall. While it’s likely that the Vikings find a true starter in the draft or free agency this year, Watts’ production after Week 5 matches that of a reasonably good starter in the NFL. Given his limited college experience, there’s a lot more potential to tap from Watts.

Josh Metellus, safety

The Vikings don’t have many safeties on the roster and played much of 2020 with only three, as Josh Metellus backed up Anthony Harris and Harrison Smith. They did eventually sign George Iloka and promoted Myles Dorn to the active roster, but the Vikings made their preference clear at the end of camp. With the likely exit of Harris, Metellus will have to compete with whomever the Vikings bring in — whether it’s a rookie or veteran free agent — but has a leg up due to his experience in a system that evidently takes some time for defensive backs to learn.

His performance in camp was fairly surprising for a late-round rookie, and his ability to play in the slot or deep has to be appealing. There’s quite a bit of room for Metellus to earn playing time, especially if the Vikings focus on the trenches early in the draft.

Tyler Conklin, tight end

Asked to play a bigger role late in the season after Kyle Rudolph’s injury threatened to disrupt the two-tight end sets the Vikings love, Conklin demonstrated he might be able to take on a full-time role. After sitting on the bench for a few years (and most of the first half of 2020), Conklin caught 17 passes for 183 yards and a touchdown in the final six games.

He has improved as a blocker and may be able to take on the more traditional tight end role Rudolph occupied. They have somewhat similar frames, as well, though Rudolph is taller. Conklin makes up for it with an impressive vertical, jumping 38 inches at the combine. Neither are burners, but they don’t need to be in that role. Conklin could become an impact complementary tight end.