When Mike Zimmer gave a press conference in March, everyone knew which direction the offseason was headed. With his defense hemorrhaging points, the Minnesota Vikings were going to load up on that side of the ball. Now, $45 million later, the Vikings have plenty of big names on a defense that should be meaningfully improved next year.
The defense looks great on paper. However, it feels like the Vikings are getting too complacent with their offense. Zimmer was right in touting the explosive offense last season, but the gap between their league-wide rankings of fourth in total yardage and 11th in total points signaled that there were tweaks to be made. While there were some improvements made, concerns linger.
The first area that needed to be addressed was the offensive line. Fans may feel that it is complete with the additions of Christian Darrisaw and Wyatt Davis, but both players aren’t certain to start in Week 1.
Darrisaw will be under the most pressure after being selected with the 23rd-overall pick in the draft. He didn’t allow a single sack during his final season at Virginia Tech and projects to be Minnesota’s left tackle of the future, with plenty of size and athleticism.
That’s enough to get people excited, but it’s important to remember that he’s still a project. It’s not a given that Darrisaw will immediately be a cornerstone tackle, nor is it certain that he can replace Riley Reiff’s production.
Reiff had a career year last season, allowing just one sack over 15 games and posting his highest PFF pass-blocking grade (74.9) since 2014 (78.1). Even if Darrisaw makes an impact as a rookie, it’s almost guaranteed the Vikings won’t get the same level of play at left tackle.
The same challenge applies to Davis. While Davis’ bar is set much lower because he’s expected to replace Dakota Dozier, will he win over the coaching staff? After Zimmer gave some young players several opportunities last season, only to watch them struggle, there’s no way he will throw a rookie out there solely because he was a high draft pick.
This seems preposterous considering Dozier allowed the fourth-most pressures of any offensive lineman last season, but when Zimmer was asked about Davis last week by KFAN’s Paul Allen, he immediately mentioned that Davis needs to lose five pounds. For a player who has struggled with injuries at Ohio State, it’s not certain he will live up to the hype right away.
Darrisaw and Davis also join a group that wasn’t spectacular to begin with. Perhaps better play at left tackle and right guard will solve some of their issues, but Garrett Bradbury allowed 29 pressures last season, the fourth-most among centers. Ezra Cleveland is still learning the guard position, and Brian O’Neill is coming off the lowest PFF grade of his career.
In other words, to consider the problem fixed is wishful thinking.
But that’s not the only place where the Vikings seem to be turning a blind eye. The third receiver spot was also a top priority heading into the offseason, but their best option looks like it’s the immortal Chad Beebe.
Beebe keeps getting opportunities but doesn’t have the ability to put fear into a defense. While the Vikings don’t run many three-receiver sets, it would be nice to have someone with a sub-4.6 40-yard dash to help stretch things out and open things up for Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson.
Instead of adding competition, the Vikings drafted Ihmir Smith-Marsette, a fifth-round pick who didn’t put up great numbers at Iowa. Some of that could have been the system, but chasing the next Stefon Diggs in the draft has led them to pick Rodney Adams, K.J. Osborne, and other players who couldn’t rise to the same level.
The lack of a WR3 could mean a bigger role for tight ends, but that’s not the case.
Zimmer mentioned that Irv Smith Jr.’s role won’t change heading into this season during a minicamp press conference. While Smith was on the field for 58.3 snaps per game after Kyle Rudolph’s foot injury, he only had four targets per game. His nine targets against the New Orleans Saints were anomalous.
While the offense was productive last season, the odds of Thielen and Jefferson receiving extra attention exit year are good. The Vikings may have been wise to add a veteran, but they appear to be happy with what they have.
Of course, we can’t forget about Kirk Cousins in this equation. He had a career year with 35 touchdown passes, but let’s not forget about what happened in the opening weeks of the season. In the first six games, Cousins led the NFL with 10 interceptions, further forcing Zimmer to transition the Vikings into a run-first team.
This isn’t a bad thing when you have Dalvin Cook in the backfield, but by nature it limits what you can do in the passing game. Cousins’ focus on singles and doubles instead of throwing the home-run ball led to the disconnect between yards and points.
Some things didn’t help, such as poor field position and a defense that couldn’t stop anyone from scoring. But a legitimate addition could have helped this offense reach another level. This means that even if the defense rebounds, the Vikings could have the same result with an offense that has regressed.
