Before I pack my visor, water bottle, and SPF 50 and head down to Mankato for the Minnesota Vikings training camp, I wanted to bring to the forefront the biggest things I’l be looking for when scouting out the progress of the 90-individual players attending, and the team as a cohesive unit.
Things will surly have a new feel this year as first time head coach Mike Zimmer puts his own twist on the tempo of two-a-day practices, with his in your face, and energetic style. Beyond lifting the team from a motivational standpoint, Zimmer will also implement a variety of new looks, schemes, and packages for the defense, as well as the addition of Norv Turner, who will do the same for the offense.
With Leslie Frazier and Bill Musgrave gone, the old looks of a tampa cover-2 defense are history, and an offensive game plan that was considered vanilla at best will have a brand new look and feel.
We get into these topics plus more in an in depth way with our three and out.
Transitioning from the Cover-2
As the rest of the league adjusted and evolved from a once successful defensive scheme called the cover-2, Leslie Frazier and a handful of others continued to implement the philosophy into his teams defense for the past four seasons. The result was as to be expected, with the team ranking near the bottom in almost every statistically passing category during the majority of that span, despite adequate talent with a mixture of high draft picks, and quality veterans.
Now, the slate has been cleaned, and Zimmer will have full control of his playbook and teaching for the first time in his coaching career.
So where does he start?
Schematically looking at his history with the Cowboys and most recently the Bengals, Zimmer will run a variety of different looks and packages, including both 3-4 and 4-3 fronts. However, no matter the formation or look the theme is a simple one. Attack. Zimmer is known for his aggressive and attacking defenses that flood to the ball, whether its the running back or quarterback.
One of Zimmer’s first statements about his scheme to player fit was that it was vital to maximize each players individual skill set, and match it to that appropriate area on the field. Meaning guys like Everson Griffen and Brian Robison will continue to play as 4-3 ends, with their hand in the dirt, while likely seeing action standing up as a linebacker in other sub-packages.
One player may have the skills and attributes that help him thrive in a specific package, where his peer playing the same position, maybe better suited in a different look. For example, newly acquired middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley is known for his run stuffing capabilities, and makes sense to be the starter in the Vikings 4-3 base unit, which is commonly ran during running plays. Then, during passing situations, his counterpart Audie Cole may slip into the inside linebacker spot, where he can maximize his versatility and ability to rush the passer, and drop back in coverage.
This situation and many more is something I will be keeping a heavy eye on, not only to determine what new looks and packages Zimmer will be installing, but as well as what players he is giving the first-team reps to in those specific formations.
Harry and Who?
Last year I was very vocal about a pass defense that ranked dead last in multiple categories, despite the talent to succeed. With little pass rush and a cover-2 scheme that was old and outdated, there was little secret as to what was the catalyst for such a porous outcome. This year however, with a new defensive scheme in place, the secondary looks to get back to playing as one of the teams strengths, instead of being a vulnerable part of the defense.
On paper the secondary has a great mix of productive veterans, along with talented youth acquired from recent drafts. While Xavier Rhodes, Captain Munnerlyn, and Harrison Smith are penciled in as starters at their respective positions, the rest of the depth chart appears to be as wide open as it gets.
Cornerbacks like Josh Robinson, Shaun Prater, Derek Cox and Marcus Sherles will all be competing for the nickel and dime spots, and each one brings something of their own uniqueness to the table.
Another camp battle will take place behind them at the second safety spot opposite of Harrison Smith. Smith is entering his third-year and has shown flashes of being a legitimate top-5 safety in the league. His biggest battle will be to stay healthy, and continue to progress under Zimmer. However, in a league that is run by the passing game, its more important than ever to have two quality safeties starting at the position. Stemming off of that and the recent increase of the leagues safeties production and value, is the fact that the position isn’t categorized into strong safety and free safety like it once was, as teams are asking both players to do a lot of the same thing in both areas of the run and the pass.
Third-year man Robert Blanton has taken the majority of first-team reps next to Smith, and is an interesting story line as both players were teammates in the Irish secondary for Notre Dame. While Smith was drafted in the first-round, Blanton was scooped up in the sixth-round and has been brought along slowly the past two-seasons. Now the two have a chance to be reunited as a safety tandem that shouldn’t need much work on their chemistry and cohesiveness together.
Blanton will have former starters Jamarca Sanford and Mistral Raymond nipping at his heels to get back into the starting mix, as well as veterans Andrew Sendejo and Kurt Coleman.
Coleman comes from Philadelphia, where he started plenty of games and was a productive player for the team. Last season though, Coleman was a part of a secondary that had a dramatic dip in their production and was released due to the units poor performance.
Sendejo saw starting action last year for the Vikings as well, and flashed some big play potential during a stretch of games midway through the year. Sendejo is considered more of an in-the-box safety that excels at run support, and will need to show more in the passing game as a man-to-man cover safety.
If that wasn’t enough, the Vikings selected Virginia Tech’s Antone Exum in the sixth-round of this years draft as well. Exum has loads of talent, arguably more so than anyone else vying for the position, but is extremely raw after missing the majority of his last season of college, due to a torn ACL in a pick up game of basketball. Exum says he is fully healed and feels 100%, but he will start this journey and competition at the bottom looking up.
Il be watching all these players and this position battle closely, seeing who can show flashes of big play ability, while playing the most consistent error free football. If the Vikings can find a strong compliment to Smith it would go a long way in helping improve last years weak passing defense, and would turn a weakness into a strength.
Quarterback Competition
Although you hear the term quite often, there aren’t many teams that have a legitimate quarterback competition heading into training camp.
The Vikings undoubtedly do with veterans Matt Cassel and Christian Ponder, and newcomer and rookie Teddy Bridgewater. While uncle Norv has been thorough in his search for his starting quarterback, claiming Ponder is fully in the mix, many will be quick to judge and make this a two-man race before it starts.
Cassel showed he can carry the offense last season and move the ball effectively, getting the ball in is playmakers hands, all while taking care of the football. Cassel is exactly that and not much more. The ten-year journeyman has flopped from team-to-team living the backup quarterback role adequately, and has shown success when thrown into action. While his ceiling isn’t high, the team knows what they will get from Cassel, and that notion is worth something. Having a consistent player at the most important position in sports is something that is vital for your teams chemistry and overall production.
Keeping Bridgewater off the field and away from the fire is something that is surly in the back of the coaching staffs minds as well, given the history of young signal callers losing their confidence early in their career after being forced into action before they were fully prepared. Zimmer and Turner are fully aware of that possible outcome, and will have nothing to do with it one way or the other. While Teddy has already shown early in OTAs he has the poise, accuracy, and quick decision making that was displayed on tape from his college days at Louisville, coaches aren’t going to hand the starting job over to a rookie that easy.
Both quarterbacks will have to show a firm grasp of the new playbook and everything that comes along with it, including a new dialogue that is similar to learning a new language all together. Form there, showing the ability to lead the offense to successful and error free drives, while putting up points during training camp is what will go a long way in determining a favorite.
The coaches will remind you, to win this game, you must show improvement everyday, as this battle won’t be won in few short practices. They will also say loud and clear that this job is a wide open competition, that is poised for the best man to win the job, whoever that may be.
A combination of training camp practices, preseason games, and a dedication to the film room, will all play huge factors as to who walks out onto the field week-one versus the St. Louis Rams, as the Vikings 2014 starting quarterback.