Vikings

New Coaches, Young Personnel: The Minnesota Vikings Defense is Still Navigating Different Dynamics

Photo Credit: Kirby Lee (USA Today Sports)

Vikings training camp seems a little quieter in 2020. Not having fans present certainly contributes to that, but on the field, some of the comforting familiarities of preseasons past are gone. Everson Griffen isn’t around to yell for somebody to turn up the warm-up music, Xavier Rhodes‘ at-times chippy training camp rivalry with Stefon Diggs is a thing of the past, and not having Linval Joseph‘s unmistakable presence in the middle of the defensive line leaves a void. In the coaching ranks, the distinct voices of Jerry Gray and George Edwards are no longer bellowing across the practice field.

The previous iteration of the Vikings defense had a precisely-shaped identity. Griffen was the motor. Joseph was the anchor. Rhodes was the neutralizer. Those roles are unclear now. Some constants remain, of course, like Harrison Smith roaming in the box, Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr patrolling between the hashes, Danielle Hunter terrorizing tight ends that dare try to block him. But this defense won’t have the almost telepathic understanding of each other’s movements like previous years. Coaches still don’t know if the defensive backs’ coverage will hold up, or if the pass rush is strong enough to mitigate some of those concerns.

“More importantly than anything else, ‘What can your players handle?’ head coach Mike Zimmer said Tuesday. “And especially with going into the first game in a shortened training camp, ‘What can they handle going forward?’ We’re fortunate that we’ve got some really smart guys that pick stuff up and are able to change and adapt really quick.”

For the first time in Zimmer’s Minnesota tenure, he oversaw a major shakeup on his defensive coaching staff with defensive coordinator George Edwards and defensive backs coach Jerry Gray finding new homes. Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer teamed up to co-coordinate the defense, while Dom Capers entered the picture as a defensive consultant with a focus on defensive backs.

With coaches taking different titles and responsibilities, the coaching staff is feeling out its new personnel much like the players are. Then again, every coaching staff around the league has been put through the wringer trying to navigate a global pandemic that upset the revered routines of the traditional offseason.

“I think it’s been really smooth,” Patterson said. “Adam and I have constant communication, so that’s been great. The only thing for me is that I’ve got more on my plate. My day is pretty busy from the time I walk in here … I go from one thing to another thing to another thing. It’s me getting used to all the different things I have to do throughout the course of the day.”

The Vikings lost some big personalities amidst their many offseason departures, leaving a handful of talented defenders with personalities on the subdued side. Coaches have not asked Hunter to try and duplicate Griffen’s over-the-top energy level — it wouldn’t be in character. Neither Smith nor Anthony Harris are particularly excitable, but they’ve been lauded for their leadership over the rookie-filled cornerback room. Kendricks seems to have accepted the torch as the defense’s vocal leader after his All-Pro 2019 campaign.

“It’s been a lot of fun having the older guys back, too,” Patterson said, “because it’s great to see them take those guys under their wings. That’s the beauty of our room, that we’re all in it together.

“I’ve been blessed that, like right now, you’ve got Danielle Hunter who pulls the young guys over and says, ‘Hey, man, this is what I was like when I came here; listen to Dre.’ You’ve got Jaleel [Johnson] that does the same thing with the young D-tackles, or Shamar Stephen. Before that, it was Everson and Linval and B-Rob (Brian Robison). Those guys all help me with that because they pull those guys over and say, ‘Listen, if you listen to him, this is what he’s going to do for you.’”

Zimmer’s defense was constantly evolving in his five or so years with mostly the same core. At its best, Zimmer’s unit was in a constant state of motion leading up to the snap, bringing disguised blitzes with safeties and nickels, sometimes dropping ends in coverage and moving linebackers in and out of every gap around the line of scrimmage. Logic says that Zimmer won’t be able to pull as many strings right now, not with such a limited time to lay a foundation. But it’s that creativity for which Zimmer is known that could help override the growing pains of the Vikings’ new starters. Capers was brought in just for that reason, to inject new ideas into a scheme that Zimmer seems to tweak every season to remain unpredictable.

“I just enjoy being around those conversations and getting to know the smaller intricacies of what the Vikings have done,” Capers said Tuesday. “Hopefully somewhere in there I’ll be able to add a little bit here or there, but Mike knows what he wants to do, and he’s done it extremely well.”

Capers’ influence could really be seen with the linebackers, where he’s specialized for many years as an aficionado of the 3-4 defensive scheme. Barr may be the recipient of some Capers-infused pressure packages.

“I think it’s very important to always evolve,” said Barr. “We can’t stay stagnant. The things that we did last year aren’t going to necessarily carry over. Some things will obviously, but there are some things that we look at it and we look at the tape and are like, ‘We need to tweak or change that.'”

With 10 full team practices under their belt, the Vikings have just six or seven left before they finalize the roster and begin preparing for the Green Bay Packers. At that point, there won’t be as much time to focus on the fundamentals. Those who aren’t prepared could get left behind — Aaron Rodgers won’t have mercy.

The most important constant is arguably the head coach. As the rudder of the defense for the last seven years, his ability to galvanize the players and coaching staff may determine how smoothly the early season goes. Zimmer said he’s been hard on the rookies to get them ready for when they have to get “chewed out” during the regular season. For some, it will be a baptism by fire.

Zimmer didn’t have to be as hard on the previous group towards the end. The current one? He might have to be. He doesn’t know yet. He, like his young starters, will be leaning on the vets.

“We’re very, very fortunate that we have two really smart safeties, three really smart linebackers, we’ve got a couple smart defensive linemen,” he said, “so these guys can make adjustments, checks, adjustments on plays. They’ve seen things. Barr and Harrison Smith and Anthony Harris, they’ve been around us for numbers of years now. Seven, some of them. Honestly, I feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

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Photo Credit: Kirby Lee (USA Today Sports)

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