Week 1 has arrived, and Minnesota Vikings fans are gung-ho-ho over new defensive coordinator Brian Flores and his aggressive, blitz-centric scheme. Gone are the days where Minnesota’s cornerbacks give ample cushion to opposing receivers with Ed Donatell’s bend-(then bend a little bit more)-and-eventually-break defense. Catch phrases like play on our terms and match aggression with aggressionย have spread like wildfire over the past few months when speaking on the defense’s new mindset under Flores.
For all the excitement that has accompanied Flores’ arrival, there’s a never-been-heard-of X-factor on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that has potential to throw a serious wrench into Minnesota’s new, overly aggressive ways defensively. Trey Palmer, the rookie sixth-round draft pick out of Nebraska, enters the season as Tampa Bay’s No. 3 receiver after Russell Gage tore his ACL in training camp.
Palmer has spent the past month taking full advantage of this newfound opportunity. In Tampa Bay’s first preseason game, he caught a spectacular touchdown courtesy of Baker Mayfield where he displayed remarkable footwork in the back of the end zone.
A few days later he torched All-Pro New York Jets corner Sauce Gardner in an 11-on-11 session during joint practices with the Buccaneers. The Jets isolated Gardner on Palmer with a cover-zero blitz, and the 4.33 speedster Palmer blazed past the second-year corner with relative ease. The play was also featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks, with Gardner becoming noticeably ornery after the torch job put on him by the Day 3 rookie.
Palmer followed up the viral moment against one of the game’s best corners with a 33-yard touchdown on seemingly the exact same route a few days later against the Jets in Week 2 of the preseason.
And to top off his highlight-garnering August, Palmer made arguably his greatest catch of the preseason by You Got Moss-ing a Baltimore Ravens linebacker in spectacular fashion on a 19-yard completion over the middle of the field.
While Minnesota’s largely inexperienced secondary will certainly have their hands full trying to contain former All-Pros Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, Palmer’s blazing 4.33 speed is the kind of vertical threat that can put six points on the board — and in a hurry — if offensive coordinator Dave Canales and quarterback Baker Mayfield catch Flores’ defense in a cover-zero blitz while in 11-personnel with Palmer on the field.
Coming out of high school, Palmer was a five-star recruit for the LSU Tigers, aka WR U. He spent his true freshman season in 2019 buried on LSU’s national champion depth chart, which featured the likes of Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase (ever heard of them?). And he never amounted to anything noteworthy over his next two seasons in Baton Rouge. But after transferring to Nebraska before the 2022 season, Palmer became one of the more electrifying receivers in college football — all while by playing on an absolute stinker of a Huskers team that went 4-8. Palmer recorded 76 touches for 1,118 yards and nine touchdowns and received the eighth-highest grade from Pro Football Focus out of all 2023 NFL Draft-eligible wide receivers at 83.6. Palmer’s 4.33 40-yard dash at the Combine also led all receivers.
Which begs the question: How in the world did he fall to the sixth round in 2023?
Circling back on Flores and his blitz-reliant scheme. As head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2020 and 2021, Flores’ defenses recorded the second-highest blitz rate across the NFL at 40.8% and 39.6%, respectively (according to Pro Football Reference). Flores is known throughout the league as someone who will lean heavily into frequent cover-zero blitzes, which means his corners will be on islands without safety help over the top. To Flores’ credit, he’s been successful with this scheme with the New England Patriots (along with Bill Belichick) and the Dolphins.
But with a vertical field stretcher like Palmer, those cover-zeroes better get home, or at least force the ball out of Mayfield’s hand before he wants to. Because Palmer’s game-breaking speed can (and will) get behind the defense and expose it to huge gains that result in long touchdowns.
Was Palmer’s August the NFL’s latest flash-in-a-pan preseason, and then we never hear from him again? It sure wouldn’t be the first, nor would it be the last, such instance. Or is the rookie wide receiver poised to breakout in the NFL’s opening week against the very scheme that invites his particular brand of unique vertical playmaking abilities? The New York Jets’ varsity defense and Sauce Gardner found out the hard way during joint practices what can happen when going cover-zero against Palmer. And if Flores gets a little too trigger happy by going cover-zero at the wrong time, Palmer could very well do the same to Minnesota’s new defense inside U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.
