Post by Purple Pain on Nov 2, 2021 17:16:31 GMT -6
Purple Insider: Vikings' lack of defensive depth is on the verge of getting exposed by Sam Ekstrom
Link:
purpleinsider.substack.com/p/vikings-lack-of-defensive-depth-is
Monday’s news of Danielle Hunter’s season-ending torn pectoral brings us back to September, when Mike Zimmer gave an honest assessment about his team’s depth.
“It’s concerning,” Zimmer said. “I feel really good about the top guys, and then some of these young guys got to come on. But when you’re kind of top-heavy with finances, that’s what you’ve got to do. Hopefully we’ll stay healthy and try to get these younger guys better.”
Using the phrase “hopefully” about anything health-related in the NFL can only be chalked up to wishful thinking. Hunter is the latest in a sudden rash of high-profile injuries that are depleting the Vikings defense. It’s 2020 deja vu, and it’s Zimmer’s worst nightmare.
“I don’t think you replace [Hunter],” Zimmer said Monday. “He’s one-of-a-kind.”
Losing Hunter, Patrick Peterson (hamstring) and Michael Pierce (elbow) — three of the most expensive and valuable pieces on the defense — is unfortunate for a team that had high hopes, but injuries in the NFL are both indiscriminate and inevitable. And it’s not apparent that the Vikings are ready to handle them.
Despite Zimmer’s efforts to take it easy on his veterans in the preseason and reduce the wear and tear on them in practice, injuries to three of their most important starters are set to reveal (and frankly, have already revealed) what Zimmer was concerned about two months ago.
“I think some of the guys that played last night have got to play better, yeah,” Zimmer said on Monday.
That includes D.J. Wonnum, who will seemingly be thrust back into his original starting role at defensive end in Hunter’s absence. Wonnum has the second-fewest pressures of any NFL edge rusher that has 300 or more snaps, and he had previously surrendered his starting job to a resurgent Everson Griffen. The veteran that Wonnum originally beat out, Stephen Weatherly, was traded last week to the Denver Broncos.
That’s not the only trade the Vikings might be ruing at the moment. As Cameron Dantzler and Bashaud Breeland struggled to prevent completions from Cooper Rush Sunday night — allowing 199 yards combined in coverage — former Viking Mike Hughes is enjoying a strong comeback season with the Kansas City Chiefs after getting dealt for next to nothing before the season. Hughes ranks 29th of 125 corners and has five games out of seven allowing fewer than 30 yards. Dantzler, meanwhile, ranks 55th and Breeland 94th.
All that to say, the Vikings exacerbated their own depth problem.
Nobody knows if Hughes or Weatherly would make big differences as spot starters in Minnesota, but they are currently missed because the Vikings haven’t found much youth they can trust to step in and fill voids. That was a hallmark of successful Zimmer teams in previous years.
While players like Weatherly and Ifeadi Odenigbo made careers for themselves as edge rushing backups, the Wonnums and Jalyn Holmes’ of the world have fallen flat. Jeff Gladney’s off-field transgressions have caused the cornerback pipeline to dry up sooner than expected, and even behind the injured Pierce, there don’t appear to be any true 3-techniques than can get after the quarterback. Sheldon Richardson was supposed to be that guy, but he’s fallen flat at age 30.
Said Griffen of the need to have young players step it up, “They're going to be big. We need them to play well and we need them to go out there and execute their assignments. When your number is called, your number is called. Losing Danielle, it hurts. Hopefully we can get this thing back going and start winning some games around here.”
The problem might be that the Vikings have a void on their roster between the raw young talent and the aging veterans. Minnesota has only one player on its roster from the 2017 draft (Dalvin Cook) and two players from 2018 (Brian O’Neill and Tyler Conklin). They have seven left from 2019, but two are out for the season (Irv Smith Jr. and Bisi Johnson), two are struggling as starters (Garrett Bradbury and Oli Udoh) and two are backups (Alexander Mattison and Kris Boyd). Only Armon Watts would be considered to be outplaying his sixth-round draft position as a nice fill-in for Pierce.
The Vikings are both too old and too young with little in between, which leaves an unbalanced roster.
The margins have been razor thin for the Vikings even with their best talent intact, just as they were last season early on when Minnesota lost one-point games to Tennessee and Seattle. It was only after a slew of injuries when things got embarrassing and Zimmer confessed to having his worst defense ever.
The Vikings 2021 defense has actually kept the team afloat in several games where the offense was inept, but things could get hairy as long as they’re without their top corner for at least two more weeks, their top pass rusher for the rest of the season and their big defensive tackle, whose return is indefinite.
The starting lineup is looking less and less like the group that felt like a playoff team on paper.Tuesday’s trade deadline might represent the last chance to find a meaningful upgrade, because the depth certainly isn’t getting it done.
“It’s concerning,” Zimmer said. “I feel really good about the top guys, and then some of these young guys got to come on. But when you’re kind of top-heavy with finances, that’s what you’ve got to do. Hopefully we’ll stay healthy and try to get these younger guys better.”
Using the phrase “hopefully” about anything health-related in the NFL can only be chalked up to wishful thinking. Hunter is the latest in a sudden rash of high-profile injuries that are depleting the Vikings defense. It’s 2020 deja vu, and it’s Zimmer’s worst nightmare.
“I don’t think you replace [Hunter],” Zimmer said Monday. “He’s one-of-a-kind.”
Losing Hunter, Patrick Peterson (hamstring) and Michael Pierce (elbow) — three of the most expensive and valuable pieces on the defense — is unfortunate for a team that had high hopes, but injuries in the NFL are both indiscriminate and inevitable. And it’s not apparent that the Vikings are ready to handle them.
Despite Zimmer’s efforts to take it easy on his veterans in the preseason and reduce the wear and tear on them in practice, injuries to three of their most important starters are set to reveal (and frankly, have already revealed) what Zimmer was concerned about two months ago.
“I think some of the guys that played last night have got to play better, yeah,” Zimmer said on Monday.
That includes D.J. Wonnum, who will seemingly be thrust back into his original starting role at defensive end in Hunter’s absence. Wonnum has the second-fewest pressures of any NFL edge rusher that has 300 or more snaps, and he had previously surrendered his starting job to a resurgent Everson Griffen. The veteran that Wonnum originally beat out, Stephen Weatherly, was traded last week to the Denver Broncos.
That’s not the only trade the Vikings might be ruing at the moment. As Cameron Dantzler and Bashaud Breeland struggled to prevent completions from Cooper Rush Sunday night — allowing 199 yards combined in coverage — former Viking Mike Hughes is enjoying a strong comeback season with the Kansas City Chiefs after getting dealt for next to nothing before the season. Hughes ranks 29th of 125 corners and has five games out of seven allowing fewer than 30 yards. Dantzler, meanwhile, ranks 55th and Breeland 94th.
All that to say, the Vikings exacerbated their own depth problem.
Nobody knows if Hughes or Weatherly would make big differences as spot starters in Minnesota, but they are currently missed because the Vikings haven’t found much youth they can trust to step in and fill voids. That was a hallmark of successful Zimmer teams in previous years.
While players like Weatherly and Ifeadi Odenigbo made careers for themselves as edge rushing backups, the Wonnums and Jalyn Holmes’ of the world have fallen flat. Jeff Gladney’s off-field transgressions have caused the cornerback pipeline to dry up sooner than expected, and even behind the injured Pierce, there don’t appear to be any true 3-techniques than can get after the quarterback. Sheldon Richardson was supposed to be that guy, but he’s fallen flat at age 30.
Said Griffen of the need to have young players step it up, “They're going to be big. We need them to play well and we need them to go out there and execute their assignments. When your number is called, your number is called. Losing Danielle, it hurts. Hopefully we can get this thing back going and start winning some games around here.”
The problem might be that the Vikings have a void on their roster between the raw young talent and the aging veterans. Minnesota has only one player on its roster from the 2017 draft (Dalvin Cook) and two players from 2018 (Brian O’Neill and Tyler Conklin). They have seven left from 2019, but two are out for the season (Irv Smith Jr. and Bisi Johnson), two are struggling as starters (Garrett Bradbury and Oli Udoh) and two are backups (Alexander Mattison and Kris Boyd). Only Armon Watts would be considered to be outplaying his sixth-round draft position as a nice fill-in for Pierce.
The Vikings are both too old and too young with little in between, which leaves an unbalanced roster.
The margins have been razor thin for the Vikings even with their best talent intact, just as they were last season early on when Minnesota lost one-point games to Tennessee and Seattle. It was only after a slew of injuries when things got embarrassing and Zimmer confessed to having his worst defense ever.
The Vikings 2021 defense has actually kept the team afloat in several games where the offense was inept, but things could get hairy as long as they’re without their top corner for at least two more weeks, their top pass rusher for the rest of the season and their big defensive tackle, whose return is indefinite.
The starting lineup is looking less and less like the group that felt like a playoff team on paper.
Link:
purpleinsider.substack.com/p/vikings-lack-of-defensive-depth-is
... and neither is this Chris guy.
