2023 was a getting to know-each-other period for Flores and the players. There were several high points in the middle of the season. There were perhaps as many low points toward the end of the season. Through it all, the Vikings defense was fun. It was also very different. Flores does things with his players that isn’t often seen throughout the league. The NFL is a copy-cat league. Common themes and schemes can be seen from team-to-team. If you want to see something a little difference, watch a Flores-led defense. Last season, the Vikings somehow led the league in snaps with fewer than three pass rushers AND led in snaps with more than five pass rushers. Flores often lets the skills of his players dictate the defense that he plays. Multi-skilled, somewhat postion-less players are a preference. The more individual players can do the more the defense can do. Those preferences can easily be seen in the overhaul seen this offseason with the team’s outside linebackers. Long-time star pass rusher Danielle Hunter is now with the Houston Texans. His departure was painful. D.J. Wonnum is with the Carolina Panthers. Marcus Davenport was brought in last season to form a potent pass rush combo with Hunter. That lasted a little over a game. The oft-injured Davenport continued to be oft-injured and he’s now doing his oft-injured thing with the Detroit Lions. Hunter was outstanding last year for the Vikings. He had a career-high 16.5 sacks. He led the league in tackles for loss. He’s at his best as a 4-3 defensive end. Despite all of his brilliant pass rushing talents, he isn’t the versatile edge rusher that fits a position-less Flores defense. Wonnum is even less of a fit. Davenport is in the tub so often he might not be a proper fit for any defense.
There are nine outside linebackers currently on the Vikings roster. Only Patrick Jones II and Andre Carter II were on the roster last season. The remaining seven players were added this offseason. The position was a focus in free agency, the draft, and undrafted free agency.
Enter:
Jonathan Greenard
Andrew Van Ginkel
Dallas Turner
Jihad Ward
Gabriel Murphy
Bo Richter
Owen Porter
Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel were early targets in free agency. Both, especially Van Ginkel, project as better fits in this defense. The Vikings spent heavily in the draft to secure Dallas Turner. With his ridiculous athletic talents and dimensions, he might’ve been genetically designed to fit a Flores-schemed defense. He’s going to be a star in the league. Jihad Ward is the big man of the group and can probably provide help on the interior as well as the outside.
The outside linebackers could be the emerging strength of the Vikings defense. They are going to be fun.
The Vikings clearly focused on the outside linebackers this offseason. With limited resources, they couldn’t fortify every defensive position group. Safeties were and are fine. Defensive line and cornerback were marginally touched with modest free agent additions and Day 3 draft picks. While nothing close to a star-studded unit, the defensive line could be productive in a workman-like way. They might even surprise. Due to a July that brought unimaginable tragedy and injury, the Vikings cornerbacks have been under a microscope throughout training camp. This week’s signing of Stephon Gilmore might’ve changed all of that. Sure, he’s going to be 34 in a month. He isn’t the same player that was Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. He remains a savvy, consistent, productive cornerback. He improves the Vikings defense. The cornerback position is much less a question-mark, problem position now than it was a week ago. That’s especially true if fellow offseason addition Shaquill Griffin can stay healthy. That’s been a difficulty for him the last two years but the Vikings can’t possibly have anymore hits to this position. Can they?
A Brian Flores-led defense will always be fun and interesting to me. I love that he’s coordinating the Vikings defense. Despite the painful loss of Danielle Hunter, I’m excited about the offseason’s outside linebacker additions. Greenard, Van Ginkel, Turner, and company are going to wreck offenses. Ivan Pace Jr. and Blake Cashman form a strong duo in the middle of the defense. They seem to be overlooked with all of the changes around them but they are perhaps the heart of this Vikings defense. Harrison Smith, Camryn Bynum, Josh Metellus, and Theo Jackson are excellent safeties. Lewis Cine finally playing on Saturday like the player they drafted in 2022 was great to see. Was it too little too late? Who knows? He has the talent to be an impact player. He just has to consistently play to it. It was the second half of the second preseason game but his explosiveness was obvious. Surprisingly, I really like the trio of Harrison Phillips, Jonathan Bullard, and Jerry Tillery up front. Tillery could be the wildcard of the entire defense. The one-time, first-round pick of the Los Angeles Chargers has always had the talent to be a disruptive interior presence. It’s never come together for him. Perhaps, he’s been waiting for this opportunity. This team. Irresistible seventh-round pick Levi Drake Rodriguez. He may even develop into a star. Finally, the cornerbacks. It’s the recency of the Stephon Gilmore signing that has me thinking so much about the potential of the whole of the Vikings defense. I was against this signing earlier simply because I questioned the addition of a soon-to-be 34-year old cornerback. If anything, I probably preferred one of the Jacksons, J.C. or Adoree’. That idea has proved fleeting. The thought of Gilmore and Griffin in man on the outside and Byron Murphy Jr. on the inside is much more intriguing than adding one of the Jacksons, even if they are a few years younger. Gilmore and Griffin must stay on the field. Gilmore hasn’t missed many games. Griffin has. No more hamstring “tweaks.” Then there’s Brian Flores and the problems he schemes for offenses. We got a hint of it last year when things were going great. That was with marginal talent that didn’t really fit. Now, the players that returned are a year more familiar with him. A couple of the new players, Van Ginkel and Gilmore, are already familiar with him. I can’t wait to see what this Vikings defense can be with players that better fit what Flores wants to do.
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