2023 Rookie Minicamp, OTAs, etc.

The Vikings are scheduled to hold the first of nine Organized Team Activity practices on Monday at TCO Performance, as phase three of the offseason gets underway.

These practices come with strict guidelines — no live contact is permitted — and participation is not mandatory, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and full team drills are allowed for the first time this spring.

This will give second-year coach Kevin O’Connell an opportunity to step up the pace on the installation of his offense, as well as new coordinator Brian Flores’ defense.

These nine sessions also will lead into the Vikings’ mandatory minicamp on June 13-14. While these practices aren’t open to fans, there will be some interesting storylines to follow.

Here are a few of them.

Brian Flores begins process of making defense respectable

Will Danielle Hunter and Dalvin Cook attend OTAs?

Let the competition at cornerback begin

Kevin O'Connell begins work with "his" offense

Hockenson thrived in Kevin O'Connell's offense after being acquired from Detroit in a midseason trade last November. He has loved his time in Minnesota and hopes it'll be his home for many years to come, but right now he's focused on football, not a potential extension.

"That's not really anything I'm focused on," Hockenson said of entering a contract year. "I mean, it is what it is. I think that's no secret that that's coming up, but that's not a focus that I'm worried about. I'm just out here playing football, having fun with the guys, really enjoying the city of Minneapolis and trying to get around these fans.

"This is a place obviously I want to be, and everything needs to work (itself) out. I hope to be here for a long time, but on the same hand, it is a business and there's a side of that. Again, I don't look at that, but it's great to be here right now."

Hockenson, the eighth overall pick out of Iowa in 2019, has made two Pro Bowl appearances in four seasons. He's 6'5", 250 pounds, an elite athlete for the tight end position, and in the heart of his prime with his 26th birthday coming up in July. Hockenson set a career high with 914 receiving yards last season, 519 of which came in ten games with the Vikings. He also experienced the playoffs for the first time and rattled off ten catches for 129 yards in Minnesota's loss to the Giants.

It would make a lot of sense for the Vikings to secure an extension this summer for Hockenson, who is a perfect complement to Justin Jefferson in O'Connell's passing game. Those things can take time, though. Hockenson has a 2023 cap hit of $9.4 million on the fifth-year option, and an extension would presumably be worth north of $14 or $15 million per year to make him one of the league's highest-paid tight ends.

The Vikings are also in line to potentially extend Jefferson and Danielle Hunter, but some business may need to wait until a resolution to the Dalvin Cook situation frees up cap space.

Right now, Hockenson isn't concerned about much more than getting better every day. After a whirlwind first few months with the Vikings last year, he's enjoying having a full offseason to bond with his teammates and explore Minneapolis.

"For me, honestly, it's to be here with the guys," Hockenson said of what he's enjoying about OTAs. "Hang out with the boys and kind of get to know everybody. Last year, during my three, four months here, it was just kinda like I'm in the playbook, I'm trying to figure out what's going on week to week, I'm just kind of focused on this one thing rather than being able to get to know a guy and understand what they do and understand them as a person. So that's been huge for me, to get out with these guys and actually hang out with them outside the building. That's been a blast for me. Like I said, having so much fun in the city of Minneapolis."

Brian Flores’ teaching approach
How do you build an adaptable defense? One that can shape-shift depending on that week’s opponent? The New England Patriots have operated this way for years. A former defensive assistant under Bill Belichick, Flores showed he was capable of adopting Belichick’s principles in Miami.

If it were easy, every team would construct its system this way. They do not.

Which brings us back to the overall question: How can Flores install such a “multiple” system?

Earlier this offseason, I posed this question to Nate Ebner, who played for the Patriots from 2012 to 2019 and spent considerable time around Flores. He stressed the importance of learning the fundamentals.

“You get good at practicing concepts like zone drops, like quarters coverage, like man-to-man coverage, like deep-half-safety stuff,” Ebner said. “Then, when it comes time to game plan during the week, now that you’ve mastered those concepts, you apply those concepts into defenses that will help against the team you’re playing.”

It makes sense. Master drifting back into coverage in multiple ways, and you can apply that skill in multiple coverages. New inside linebackers coach Mike Siravo echoed Ebner’s point.

Siravo, who was a graduate assistant at Boston College when Flores played there in 1999 and 2000, compared the idea to learning karate. Master the technique of a kick, and you can use it when you have to.

“If you whittle it down to what the techniques are and teaching,” Siravo said, “you can move the pieces around as much as you want.”

But the learning can’t happen only in the classroom. On the field during organized team activities, the Vikings players have rotated through different circuits. In some of them, the players focus on a specific coverage principle. In others, they rush the passer from different spots. Not only do the drills give players a chance to improve at that technique, but they also give the coaches a clear indication of who excels at what. Extended observation will allow Flores to deploy the Minnesota defenders in ways that fit their strengths.

“We’ll try to find the best combination that works for our team for that specific game,” Flores said Wednesday.

Siravo, who for years coached alongside Phil Snow, a respected defensive coordinator in college and the NFL, said that Flores’ style is not too different from his own. It’s just that this defense prioritizes other facets than simply constructing an unbeatable set of X’s and O’s.

“There are situations where the answer to everything is the scheme,” Siravo said. “What I love about our defense and staff is the answer is toughness first, then fundamentals, technique and effort.”