Vikings

Zimmer: Rookies Are Missing Out on Coaching, Correction, Camaraderie

Photo Credit: Chuck Cook (USA Today Sports)

Normally this time of year Mike Zimmer is preparing for OTAs, an extended opportunity to get his hands on the new rookie class and size up the progress of his returning players. This is a stretch that Zimmer loves. The demanding chaos of the regular season is still months away. Media obligations are at a minimum. Optimism reigns while criticism is held for a later date. The old school coach doesn’t need to worry about gameplanning for his next adversary or fret about being second-guessed for his latest game-management decision. This is where the coach gets to be a coach.

You can imagine his frustration, then, at losing these valuable practices due to the facility closures brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with 27 draft picks and UDFAs that require extra development. Zimmer has been forced to exchange his whistle for a computer mouse, with which he clicks through the team’s various virtual meetings and listens in. Instead of overseeing hundreds — maybe thousands — of offseason practice reps, Zimmer is stuck in a virtual classroom setting where he merely gets to grill his players on the Xs and Os but doesn’t get to see their knowledge translated onto the field.

Quarantined at his 160-acre Kentucky ranch, it’s not all bad for Zimmer, who gets to golf, hunt and hot tub with his son and co-defensive coordinator Adam Zimmer (who also doubles as Zimmer’s de facto I.T. guy). But the 63-year-old coach would rather be patrolling practice fields, seeking out defensive backs that aren’t getting their hips turned properly.

“I really miss being around the players,” Zimmer told reporters Wednesday. “Talking to them on the computer, the iPad or whatever, is not the same, because I want to get out there. I want to coach and correct them, teach them, try to build the camaraderie that we need as a football team. But unfortunately, we’re not able to do that. … They’re probably going to get an extra dose of me when they get back.”

The Vikings are doing their best to make up for the month of missed practices. Strength coach Mark Uyeyama has customized workouts for the club’s players based on the resources they have available — even if that means having them do something as cumbersome as pushing a car down the road. Additionally, the team has sent each player a video outlining position-specific drills to run. Some players will send Uyeyama back a video of themselves so the coaching staff can provide feedback on technique.

“It’s just another tool,” Zimmer said, “if they have to ask a question about, ‘How should I turn my foot here? Should I open my hips this way?'”

Teams are in the dark about how long they’ll have to prepare for the regular season. Normally teams get about seven weeks from the opening of training camp to the regular season opener, but that could be truncated this year. The Vikings staff is preparing to give its players a crash course on technique once they arrive in pads. When training camp occurs, it’ll likely be stripped of any frills. Just nuts and bolts football.

“The better we prepare ourselves to understand what we may have to go through, and what we have to do initially,” Zimmer said, “it may end up giving us an advantage in how we can go out and go play.”

Zimmer has experiences to draw upon that could help him in his preparation. He’s been a college coach that had to prepare young players to step up and play when seniors graduated — much like the Vikings defense, which lost three starting cornerbacks, a defensive end, a receiver and a guard. He’s coached in the NFL at a time when training camp was all teams got to get ready for the season (granted, those days were also filled with two-a-day practices and relentless hitting). And he coordinated the Bengals defense in 2011 when the offseason was abridged due to a lockout.

For the head coach, his chief concern is teaching the fundamentals. He mentioned that defensive backs may have the toughest time catching up after the shortened offseason. Considering the Vikings drafted three rookie corner to help replace their departed starters, there’s plenty to stress about.

“I’ll be more concerned about working with technique of each and every player when they get here,” he said. “That might take three weeks, who knows. Each player is a little bit different. That will be the biggest factor. You can’t just roll out the ball and play. You can’t just say: Here’s your playbook, now you go out there. It doesn’t work like that. They know what to do, but they don’t know how to do it.”

The 2019 season represented the last hurrah for the previous generation of the Vikings’ defense. For many, it was their fifth straight season together. Zimmer gave that team more latitude with less demanding practices, veteran rest days and Mondays off after victories. It’s safe to say 2020 won’t be as laissez faire. But that renewed pressure has invigorated Zimmer. He’s been given a challenge and sees an opportunity to create an advantage for the Vikings. Which coach can get his team ready the quickest?

“It energizes us as coaches,” Zimmer said, “trying to get these guys up to speed as fast as we can.”

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Photo Credit: Chuck Cook (USA Today Sports)

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