Minnesota Sports Forum

bleedspeed177 wrote:Good points. Dakota Dozier played all over and was solid. Hill and him are the vet backups and we have some young development guys behind them. The only way this doesn't work out is if Bradbury gets hurt. Jones was our best backup.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/depth/_/name/min

The starters are certainly getting older. It will be interesting how many of the young guys develop. They need reps to keep the vets fresh. I am mostly worried about the DL.

DL? That's honestly the least of my worries...ok maybe that and RB. LB is pretty solid too. Other position groups have a lot more troubling depth than those groups.

I am a you win in the trenches guy. Everson and Joseph are on the wrong side of 30. Both of those guys broke down late in the season in 2017. They need to be rotated for early and often in my opinion so they are strong in December not played into the ground. That depth needs to see 20-35% of the snaps. I don't see depth being tested much anywhere else unless there is an injury.

The drop off after Cook is huge.
The LB drop off has not impacted us much in the past.
The DB depth should get better as the year goes on. Hopefully Rhoades, Wayne, and Alexander stay healthy for at least 6 weeks.

bleedspeed177 wrote:I am a you win in the trenches guy. Everson and Joseph are on the wrong side of 30. Both of those guys broke down late in the season in 2017. They need to be rotated for early and often in my opinion so they are strong in December not played into the ground. That depth needs to see 20-35% of the snaps. I don't see depth being tested much anywhere else unless there is an injury.

The drop off after Cook is huge.
The LB drop off has not impacted us much in the past.
The DB depth should get better as the year goes on. Hopefully Rhoades, Wayne, and Alexander stay healthy for at least 6 weeks.

Griffin didn't break down physically it was a metal issue. Meanwhile they have 2 DE in Weatherly and Idenigbo that look poised to be rotated in or even start if that is the issue. Linval is more of a concern. One thing I think helps is that Shamar if healthy helps more against the run because according to Patterson he takes up space and is disciplined. I think that makes whoever plays next to him if Linval is hurt or you spell him better. Last year the guys playing at the other tackle spot were push up the field guys. I think the idea of Linval and Shamar together is that the LBs get more free reign to roam around. I think people thinks Jaleel sucks (some fans suggested he get cut) and it's not true he is gonna be at least a solid depth guy that still can get some push at times. Time will tell. That group has a ton of guys and they have one of the best position coaches in the entire league. Because of that I have some trust there that other positions I don't.

I was talking about 2017 when Griffin played fhe full year.

September - 4 sacks
October - 6 sacks
November - 2 sacks
December 1 sack

Basically 10 sacks in first 8 games and 3 in last 8. Even his tackles dropped from 23 to 10. We need to keep him fresh. I think Weatherly can certainly help, but will the coaching staff give them enough reps.

http://www.nfl.com/player/eversongriffen/496790/gamelogs?season=2017

bleedspeed177 wrote:I was talking about 2017 when Griffin played fhe full year.

September - 4 sacks
October - 6 sacks
November - 2 sacks
December 1 sack

Basically 10 sacks in first 8 games and 3 in last 8. Even his tackles dropped from 23 to 10. We need to keep him fresh. I think Weatherly can certainly help, but will the coaching staff give them enough reps.

http://www.nfl.com/player/eversongriffen/496790/gamelogs?season=2017

Gotcha. Sacks don't always tell the whole story but yeah he wasn't quite as good downtown he stretch. I believe (I might be remembering incorrectly) he was playing through an injury that year (which supports your case) but I don't think we found out till after the season was over. Regardless hopefully we get guys rotated in there. I think it was on Tice's podcast that Tice said this might be the most talent they have ever had on the D-line and Patterson actually enthusiastically agreed. It sounded more legit than praising the guys you have if you know what I mean. Hercules looks like he could be the next Tom Johnson. Watts looks like he could be a real monster wherever you put him and they clearly still like Holmes who's a I think they could even kick out to DE still if they needed him to.

It's interesting they signed Stacy Keely to the PS. The guy is raw new to the position doesn't weigh a ton and the athletic testing doesn't wow except the broad jump which might be more intriguing than a 40 time anyway. I was wondering if Schult maybe didn't do well against the run. I know he lost contain a few times in that Buffalo game. That dude can pass rush against lower level guys at a really high level.

I don't understand how we lose Sheldon Richardson and people think we have the most talent on that side of the ball we've ever had. He wasn't as dominant as his Jets years, but he was still pretty good and we didn't replace him. We're just going next man up essentially. I'm not worried about the edges because Weatherly outside of some mental mistakes was solid filling in for Griffin so we have 3 solid DE's but the interior should be very worrisome especially if Joseph can't return to form.

khans2k5 wrote:I don't understand how we lose Sheldon Richardson and people think we have the most talent on that side of the ball we've ever had. He wasn't as dominant as his Jets years, but he was still pretty good and we didn't replace him. We're just going next man up essentially. I'm not worried about the edges because Weatherly outside of some mental mistakes was solid filling in for Griffin so we have 3 solid DE's but the interior should be very worrisome especially if Joseph can't return to form.

. PFF ranks the pass rushing of the Vikings 14tg. They mentioned losing Sheldon as being a big concern.

I have been wondering about this thinking the Vikings had to be one of the younger teams in the league.

https://twitter.com/goesslingstrib/status/1172202688206913536?s=21

According to the roster facts and figures the NFL releases at the start of the regular season (which is always an interesting read), the Vikings are tied with the Packers for the 2nd-youngest roster in the NFC, and the 6th-youngest in the NFL.

Average age is 25.58 on both teams

I am not sure is an accurate indicator. I think it is more average age of contributors. Last year I think some of the issues with the team was veterans that were gone. BRob, Berger, and Newsome not being on the field could have been part of the downturn. Those guys were leaders and solid players.