Fresh off a 34-26 Week 8 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, their fifth straight, the Minnesota Vikings are faced with some potential multi-week injury misfortune to their starting lineup. Defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson exited Sunday’s contest with a calf injury, and tight end Irv Smith Jr. hurt his ankle against the Cardinals. Tomlinson is considered week to week, while Smith is expected to miss several weeks with a high ankle sprain — which was perhaps a significant factor in the recent trade with the Detroit Lions for TE T.J. Hockenson. Even potential All-Pro and Pro Bowl edge rusher Za’Darius Smith gave Skoldiers a good fright on Halloween Eve when he needed to be looked at by the medical staff following a knee issue. Adam Thielen returned to the game shortly after he was also evaluated for a potential knee issue.
For the first time all season, the injury bug came out to play for the Vikings on Sunday — and they’re fortunate that it only struck two of Minnesota’s 22 offensive and defensive starters. The only other occurrence of a starter missing game action this season came in Week 3 when Harrison Smith was forced to miss a divisional game against the Detroit Lions.
The Vikings — and the entire NFL — are not strangers to dealing with both sides of the injury coin. In 2017, the stars aligned for Minnesota. Although starting quarterback Sam Bradford went down, the rest of the Vikings’ core stayed healthy en route to an NFC Championship game appearance. Conversely, the past few seasons in Minneapolis have allowed Vikings fans to daydream something along the lines of What if this team could stay healthy? following injuries to Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks, Michael Pierce, and Anthony Barr.
Make no mistake about it, one of the keys to Minnesota’s 6-1 start this season is that their top 22 have remained healthy and active. Now that Tomlinson is likely to miss at least a game or two, will Ed Donatell’s unit be able to overcome the temporary adversity? Jonathan Bullard will likely slide into Tomlinson’s spot on Minnesota’s defensive front. While Bullard is a solid run defender, he leaves a lot to be desired as a pass rusher. The backup defensive tackle has just one pressure on 81 pass rush snaps — an embarrassingly low 1.2% pressure rate. Ross Blacklock will also likely see an uptick in snaps, especially on obvious passing downs. His 10.4% pressure rate on 67 pass-rush snaps so far this season should help temporarily alleviate the loss of Tomlinson’s ability to create pressure from the interior.
If Minnesota can patch together Tomlinson’s absence in “Moneyball” fashion with a steady run defender in Bullard and a pass-rushing specialist in Blacklock, who’s the one defender the Vikings can’t afford to be without?
- Is it the ageless wonder Patrick Peterson keeping Minnesota’s cornerback room intact with his veteran leadership?
- How about Harrison Smith and his timely turnovers throughout the season?
- Would rookie Brian Asamoah be ready to step up if Kendricks or Jordan Hicks went down?
- Does Minnesota’s front maintain their success without Danielle Hunter occupying chips and double teams?
To be perfectly clear, Donatell doesn’t want to find out how his defense would fare without any of his veteran starters. But Andrew Booth appears to be healthy and ready to enter the fray should any of Minnesota’s top-three corners be forced to miss time. The loss of Lewis Cine in 2022 makes Harrison Smith’s availability that much more important — and he very well could be Minnesota’s most critical defender. The staff seems to be quite giddy over the former Oklahoma linebacker, and they’ve recently said they’re looking to expand Asamoah’s role.
And although Hunter has shown flashes over the past two games against the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals, he is still leaving a ton of meat on the bone as a pass rusher.
That leaves us with Minnesota’s prized free-agent acquisition, Za’Darius Smith. When Minnesota’s Captain of the B.M.F. crew went down on Sunday against the Cardinals, I couldn’t help but think that the Vikings’ season simultaneously went down the drain in the moment.
Za’Darius Smith has provided for the Vikings what every single defensive coordinator wishes they could have. He’s a unique chess piece who can be moved around throughout the front to create mismatch opportunities, and he’s a consistent game wrecker against the run.
The former Green Bay Packer leads the NFL in sacks (8.5) and tackles for loss (13). There quite literally isn’t another defender on the planet that is having a bigger impact against both the run and the pass this season. Only Myles Garrett (41), Micah Parsons (39), and Matthew Judon (39) have recorded more pressures than Smith’s 37.
Unicorns like Za’Darius Smith are the engines for their respective defenses. When the San Francisco 49ers were forced to be without All-Pro edge rusher Nick Bosa in Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons, they allowed a season-high 168 rushing yards and 28 points in the loss.
If the Vikings want to remain a legitimate contender within the NFC, Za’Darius Smith — and his health — will be paramount. Considering his lingering back issues from last season, it might even be worth taking a look at reducing some of his snaps so that the Vikings can do their best to assure he’s as close to 100% as possible for the playoffs.
But while the Vikings are in pursuit of the Philadelphia Eagles and obtaining home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, Za’Darius Smith is hands down the single most important defender in Minnesota. The Vikings cannot afford to be without him as they set their sights on a February trip to Glendale, Ariz.
