The Minnesota Vikings played their first game with fans in attendance in 592 days on Saturday, and in their pre-season debut they took an emphatic 33-6 beating from the Denver Broncos. While it’s true the Vikings rested a total of 31 players, including most of their prominent starters, the efforts of the second- and third-stringers left much to be desired.
Though this game yielded very few strong performances, there is still plenty to learn from it. Here are my five biggest takeaways from this embarrassing start to the preseason:
Cut Dakota Dozier
Watching this game me wonder just how the Vikings got a single victory last season trotting out Dozier at left guard. On the first passing down of the game, Dozier was pushed back into Jake Browning on a play that resulted in an incompletion. The veteran guard’s day didn’t get much better from there. On the next drive, Dozier was flagged for a holding play in the endzone, which resulted in a safety. What might be even more embarrassing is that all of this was done by former Viking Shamar Stephen. Last season Stephan could barely muster any pressure, and on Saturday he was looking like Aaron Donald.
The Vikings need to trim the roster down to 80 players on Aug. 17, and Dozier should be one of the names on the cut list. He was by far the worst offensive lineman the Vikings fielded on Saturday. He struggled with allowing pressures and was flagged twice. While the case for him staying would revolve around his experience and understanding of the offense, Dozier yet again proved he is not only a below-average starter but also a below-average depth player. With Oli Udoh making a case to be the starting right guard along with Wyatt Davis’ impressive NFL debut, the Vikings no longer have a need for Dozier on this roster.
Special Teams Needs Refinement
Last season the Vikings’ special teams finished 31st in DVOA. After firing Marwan Maalouf and promoting longtime assistant Ryan Ficken, you would hope that the special teams would show signs of improvement. That didn’t happen.
Despite Greg Joseph making both of his field goals, from 25 and 34 yards, respectively, the special teams struggled in almost every other aspect. Britton Colquitt had two punts under 40 yards and got a fortunate bounce on one that pushed it to around 44 yards. Head coach Mike Zimmer also seems to see this as a problem, saying that his punter’s performance today was “cause for concern.” In the past, the Vikings haven’t been afraid to pull the plug on a punter when they aren’t performing well. We will see if it happens again this year.
We also didn’t get any real clarity on who the returners will be for both punts and kickoffs, as they were handled by various different players who all showed middling levels of effectiveness. Though the kickoff team did have some success stopping returners early, they also allowed a 62-yard return. The special teams will need to further improve this season if the Vikings want to reach their full potential.
Safety Depth is a Must
Though the first preseason game didn’t help us to understand what we have, it may have indirectly given us an understanding of what we need. While both Harrison Smith and Xavier Woods sat out this first preseason game, the abysmal play from Cam Bynum, Myles Dorn, and Josh Metellus really stuck out. Poor angles on tackles, blown coverages, and missed tackles were routine from these three. Despite it being early in the preseason for these inexperienced players, you would have liked to see more from them.
One particularly worrisome play was the 80-yard K.J. Hamler touchdown. While Cameron Dantzler got burned on the play, he was expecting some help over the top from one of the two high safeties. Instead, Bynum drifted to the other side of the field, biting on the play-action that Drew Lock set up.
From what we all saw from the safeties today, the Vikings should look to pick up an experienced safety as a reliable veteran backup for both Wood and Smith if either one of them has to miss time with injuries or COVID.
A.J. Rose for RB3
If you didn’t know who A.J. Rose was before this game, you’re forgiven. But one of the few bright spots of an abysmal game was the play of the UDFA. The former Kentucky Wildcat finished the day with 100 yards on 25 carries with an 18-yard reception, the longest of the game for any Vikings player. Rose took a majority of the reps and allowed for Ameer Abdullah to be the change-of-pace back and serve as a special teamer.
I was thoroughly impressed by Rose’s ability to run between the tackles and how he was able to show off both power and speed. With Kene Nwangwu serving as a special teamer, Rose has a good chance to slot in as the RB3 if he can showcase more of the receiving ability that has made Abdullah so valued by the Vikings. The competition for the final running back position should be cutthroat going into the next few weeks.
Build that (Plexiglass) Wall
A major storyline this offseason has been starting quarterback Kirk Cousins‘ refusal to get the COVID vaccine. The signal-caller has even suggested building a plexiglass wall or fort in the QB room so that he can play without contracting the virus. While he doesn’t look to be changing his stance on the vaccine any time soon, the Vikings might want to cave to his demands based on the quarterback play they saw today. Though Browning didn’t have much time, thanks to his offensive line, he did struggle to get off of his first read and make plays.
And while I am not out on Kellen Mond yet, he showed that he needs to speed up the way he plays and make much quicker decisions against NFL defenses. There were flashes where you saw the player Mond could be, like when he was able to use his feet to scramble for first downs or when he fit the ball into a tight window in the endzone to Whop Philyor, who dropped it after a hard hit from a Broncos player. Though Mond might be a starting-caliber QB down the line, right now it seems like a good idea for him to sit back and watch Cousins take the reins. The Vikings need to do everything in their power to keep Cousins healthy if they want to make a Super Bowl run.
