Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took a risk when he went outside the building and signed Jonathan Greenard instead of re-upping long-time edge rusher Danielle Hunter in the offseason.
At the time, both paths could have made sense. Hunter will go down as a legendary player for the Vikings. He ranks sixth in franchise history in sacks, behind four Hall of Famers and ahead of Jared Allen. He provided stability and was coming off a great season, with a career-high 16.5 sacks.
By comparison, Greenard had just his breakout 2023 season to show for significant production and barely had a quarter of Hunter’s career sack total. Injury issues had plagued Greenard throughout his career, but he’s roughly three years younger than Hunter, which aligned better with Minnesota’s timeline as they looked to draft a rookie QB. Greenard’s tape backed up his 2023 production, which allowed him to garner $19 million per year from the Vikings. Still, they saved compared to Hunter’s $24.5 million average and signed Greenard for four years while Hunter signed for two.
Through 10 weeks of the season, both teams are probably happy with their investments. Greenard and Hunter have nearly identical PFF grades, 83.3 vs. 83.5, respectively. Greenard is tied for third in total pressures per PFF, with 48, while Hunter is seventh with 42. If you look at true pass sets, Hunter has a higher win rate (27.1% vs. 23.9%), while Greenard has more pressures (36 vs. 29). Greenard has 20 run stops, while Hunter has 18.
In many different ways, that’s saying that Greenard and Hunter are playing at a similar level, and both are playing like top-10, maybe even top-five edge rushers this year. But only one of them, Hunter, is getting paid like a top-10 player. Greenard’s contract is ranked 14th in APY at edge. In signing Greenard, the Vikings got younger and cheaper at edge rusher and got the same level of production they did with Hunter. That’s phenomenal value.
Greenard’s ability to get pressure has been extremely impressive this year. Brandon Thorn, who studies offensive and defensive line play on his Trench Warfare substack, charts pressures by edge rushers and rates them by quality. That gives additional context to just raw pressure numbers. Greenard ranks second in the NFL in true pressure rate and is one of only five players with more than 20 “high-quality” or “rare high-quality” pressures. Greenard earns a high-quality pressure every 11.1 pass rush snaps, which is fourth in the NFL. Check out Thorn’s top 50 in the table below:
What makes Greenard such a good player? Reporters asked Brian Flores about him after the Vikings beat the Indianapolis Colts.
“How [Greenard] plays the run, setting edges, knocking people back. You know, some of the things he does within the rush that help other guys get open,” Flores said. “He’s got a rugged play style, but he also has the splash plays.”
Let’s dive into the tape and start with that rugged play style.
physicality
Establishing a physical presence is something Greenard regularly does in the run game. It shows up particularly when he takes on pullers, like in the play below. Here, All-Pro LG Quenton Nelson is pulling to block Greenard, and Greenard violently takes on the block, stopping Nelson in his tracks and getting his hands on the RB for the run stop.
It seems Greenard makes at least one of these plays every week, although usually it’s through TEs. Here’s an example from the game against the Green Bay Packers:
This isn’t a pulling player, but on this play he stops Tyler Conklin‘s block in its tracks and makes the run stop while being blocked.
His physicality also clearly shows up as a pass rusher. His combination of great length and technique to play with leverage allows him to overpower opposing blockers, like on this play when he knocked the LT back into Jordan Love:
In this play, he runs over a poor rookie TE Cade Stover, who is trying to pass protect against him. You can see Greenard’s length and power advantage:
The “rugged” portion of Greenard’s game also shows up when you try to block him with multiple players. On the play below, the New York Jets try to help LT Tyron Smith by chipping with RB Breece Hall, but the combo barely slows Greenard down. Relentlessly chasing the QB despite getting hit by multiple blockers makes this a great rush by Greenard:
On this play, the San Francisco 49ers enlisted George Kittle to help on Greenard, but Greenard was still able to get a pressure through the RT on the pass rush:
splash plays
Playing with the physicality above allows Greenard to make the splash plays. His violence on a bull rush means that opposing tackles must load up to anchor against Greenard’s power. That means that Greenard can use his great athleticism to counter and make splash plays against the QB for sacks. As Flores said above, the combination of rugged and splash plays make Greenard special.
Look at the play below against the Colts. Greenard has been setting up the opposing tackle all day, and now he unleashes a spin move inside to sack Joe Flacco on the Colts’ final drive.
Greenard also displays great technique, using his hands to his advantage. In the play below, he double-swipes to knock opposing LT Taylor Decker‘s hands away, allowing him to turn the corner for a strip sack against Jared Goff.
Greenard explodes off the line and sometimes beats opponents out of their stance, running by them to make the play. His sack against Shaq Mason from the Houston Texans is a great example.
The spin move has been a great asset to Greenard’s game. Here’s a compilation of some of his wins on the spin:
Also, for fun, here’s a compilation of pass-rush wins from Greenard that I put together from earlier in the season. He’s getting paid to rush the passer and doing it at an elite level.
Selfless Play
In Flores’ quote above, he talks about what Greenard does in the rush to help other defenders with their responsibilities. That’s selfless play that might sacrifice Greenard’s own production to help the defense’s overall performance. The play below against the Colts is a perfect encapsulation of this attitude.
On the play, the Vikings are running a unique stunt. They’ve isolated the C and LG by alignment and have three rushers against two blockers. Eventually, the LT responsible for Andrew Van Ginkel, who dropped into coverage, gets back in on the play. However, Greenard ensures that doesn’t matter. To start, Jihad Ward crashes against the LG while Greenard and Josh Metellus loop around and attack the C.
This is a unique design because typically three-man stunts include two crashers and one looper, while this includes just one crasher and two loopers. The LG, Nelson, actually processes this pretty well and tries to get back to Greenard, freeing up the C to go after Metellus. However, after he loops, Greenard physically engages C Ryan Kelly, knocking him back multiple yards while absorbing a blow from Nelson. That prevents Kelly from shifting to Metellus, who almost sacks Joe Flacco.
Metellus’ rush affects Flacco’s throw, and Greenard is almost rewarded for his selfless effort as the ball is thrown right to him. It goes through his hands, and he’s unable to catch it. Still, this selfless rush led to a third-down failure and punt.
Play recognition
Flores also talked about Greenard’s play recognition, saying, “There’s an experience there, a formation recognition that he has, that a lot of our players have, that allows him to anticipate a little bit of what he’s going to get and then be physical from a playstyle standpoint.”
That recognition helps Greenard in the run game. He can see when opponents are attacking him, allowing him to avoid blocks and make plays. The play below against the Jets is a good example. He sees the TE in front of him blocking down, so he gets his eyes up.
If the RB is running away from him, that would mean he should chase down the line of scrimmage. Instead, the handoff is near him. Greenard’s processing tells him that someone must be pulling to block him, the TE No. 84 in this case. He processes all of this in two steps, then gets upfield and dips his shoulder to avoid the split block by the TE before getting to the RB to make the tackle for loss.
Greenard can also recognize by formation when the run is going away from him. In the play below, he knows he has a blocker on either side of him. On a zone run away, the blocker to his right, Kyle Juszczyk, will try to reach him. As soon as he sees LT Trent Williams block the opposite direction and sees the back start his path to the right side of the OL. He knows it’s zone and bursts into the backfield, chasing the run down from behind. His recognition of the play allowed him to play freely.
conclusion
When asked about Greenard’s physicality, Flores said, “He’s got great technique, great fundamentals. He’s strong, he’s physical.”
That’s all-around praise, and it sums up Greenard’s game.
Greenard is a highly physical player with great leverage and strength, using his length to his advantage. He’s explosive off the snap and can beat blockers to their spots in both the run and pass game. Greenard shows great technique in rushing the passer and can win around the edge and inside with counter moves. He also shows the ability to be selfless and plays as part of a whole of the defense to help teammates get production.
Greenard recognizes plays well and uses that recognition to make key stops.
Through nine games, it appears that the Vikings’ front office made a phenomenal decision by signing Greenard. He is playing at an elite level on the edge for the price of a mid-tier contract, and he’s under contract for four years. At 27, Greenard is entering his prime and should be a staple of Minnesota’s defensive line for years to come.
