The 2013 Minnesota Vikings defense left a lot to be desired. The secondary received most of the deserved criticism but that area of the defense wasn't alone. The middle of the defense, the linebackers, have to improve if the defense is to play at the level that new head coach Mike Zimmer expects.
The 2013 Vikings opening day linebacker starters looked like this:
Chad Greenway
Erin Henderson
Marvin Mitchell
Only Greenway remains of the roster. The 2013 season was a rough one for Greenway. Some see it as late career slide that is only going to continue. The less critical, or more hopeful, see his down 2013 season as one that was due more to injuries than a career-ending trend. Greenway had arthroscopic knee surgery a month before training camp. More significantly he played much of the season with a sprained and later fractured wrist. The injuries probably played less of a role for the decline in his play than having to cover for Henderson and Mitchell on the field. Henderson and Mitchell are excellent special teams players. If they are starting on a defense, the other nine players had better be fantastic. Chad Greenway has been a very good, and often great, football player for the Vikings since he became a starter in 2007. Last season was an indication of nothing other than a rough season for him and the defense. A hiccup. He's 31. His best days are likely behind him but he still has a couple more impact seasons in him. Maybe he'll find Zimmer's defense, teaching, and coach rejuvenating.
Unless there are last-minute additions or subtractions, the Vikings will enter their 2014 training camp with ten linebackers:
Chad Greenway
Anthony Barr
Jasper Brinkley
Michael Mauti
Audie Cole
Larry Dean
Gerald Hodges
Brandon Watts
Dom DeCicco
Mike Zimmer
Anthony Barr was drafted with the ninth pick of the 2014 NFL Draft to start and to star. Barring the impossible, Barr and Chad Greenway will start at the outside linebacker spots. Head coach Mike Zimmer and his defensive coaches will have a splendid time devising new ways to use the vast and varied natural talents of Barr. Middle linebacker will be one of the most competitive battles in training camp. Jasper Brinkley likely gets early first team snaps due to his experience. With a first-year coaching staff, all players enter a level playing field. Still, some experience can get that first look. Audie Cole did a fine job in a few late-season starts last year. It's the guess here that Michael Mauti exits training camp as the starter. Three ACL tears at Penn St. dropped him to the seventh-round of the 2013 NFL Draft. A healthy Mauti is an early round draft pick. He's got that kind of talent. Perhaps more important, Mauti was an absolute rock during an incredibly rough time at Penn St. He fought to keep that team together while every college in the country was trying to tear it apart. His passion and leadership will attract the attention of Zimmer. Larry Dean has been one of the Vikings top special teams players for the past couple of seasons. If he doesn't make his presence felt on defense as well, he might find himself on the wrong side of the numbers game. Gerald Hodges entered Penn St. as a safety but ended up next to Mauti at linebacker. Hodges may play the coverage role in which Emmanuel Lamur excelled with Zimmer in Cincinnati. Brandon Watts was a seventh-round pick this year. He's fighting for a roster spot. Dom Decicco and the interestingly-named Mike Zimmer have some NFL experience but are in the same sort of fight. It's likely that the Vikings will keep six linebackers. It could be seven. The less ambitious assumption is that the following are the six linebackers that make the 2014 Minnesota Vikings:
Chad Greenway
Anthony Barr
Michael Mauti
Jasper Brinkley
Audie Cole
Gerald Hodges
With the starting linebackers looking like this:
SLB Anthony Barr
MLB Michael Mauti
WLB Chad Greenway
It's pretty safe to assume that Zimmer and defensive coordinator George Edwards will put a variety of defensive fronts on the field. Barr will be all over the field. On the line. Backing the line. Dropping into coverage. Greenway has taken some offseason snaps in the middle. The starters from game to game may depend as much on the offense of the opponent as anything else. The linebackers, and the defense as a whole, will be improved simply by the coaching and schemes of Mike Zimmer. The overall talent of the linebackers will be improved by the addition of Anthony Barr, the return to health of Chad Greenway, and the hopeful maturation of youngsters Michael Mauti, Audie Cole, and Gerald Hodges.
If it comes down to it, and there's a good chance that it will happen, it will be kinda funny for head coach Mike Zimmer, not funny at all for linebacker Mike Zimmer, to have to cut linebacker and fellow Illinois St. alum Mike Zimmer.
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