That Was Then. This Is Now

The 2020 Minnesota Vikings defense wasn’t good. The offseason-long questioning by local and national talking heads as to what went wrong with Mike Zimmer’s defense was always puzzling. The answer was simple. Injuries and an opt-out. The defense that was on the field in 2020 wasn’t the defense that was supposed to be on the field. It was ripped apart before and throughout the season. Practice squad players and street free agents weren’t supposed to be a season-long source for the front seven. Rookie cornerbacks were expected to get significant playing time. They weren’t supposed to be nearly season-long starters. Scattered injuries should be expected on a team. It’s football. It’s usually an edge rusher here, a linebacker, there, a defensive back or three. Players dropped from the Vikings defense front to back and side to side. Only the safeties stood from start to finish. What happened to the Vikings 2020 defense? Open those eyes. I suppose that the talking heads need to ask these offseason questions even if the answers are so obvious. It’s tiresome. 

The struggles of the 2020 Minnesota Vikings defense can easily be explained by the defensive line that started most of the season. 

LE	Jalyn Holmes
DT	Shemar Stephen
NT	Jaleel Johnson
RE	Ifeadi Odenigbo

The high hopes for the 2021 Minnesota Vikings defense can be seen in the expected defensive line. A line that hopefully starts the entirety of the season. 

LE	Danielle Hunter
DT	Dalvin Tomlinson
NT	Michael Pierce
RE	D.J. Wonnum

The first defensive line looks like it fronts a scout team. The second defensive line looks like a Vikings defensive line. The difference between the two defensive lines is enormous. The interior pairing of Dalvin Tomlinson and Michael Pierce might be the Vikings players that I’m most excited to see this season. In terms of offense-wrecking experience, D.J. Wonnum is the exception. He wrecked the comeback hopes of Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers as a rookie last season. That sack was the team’s defensive highlight of the season. One could argue that it was the only defensive highlight of the season. The athletic, raw potential is there for Wonnum to be a difference-maker. His progression should be assisted by the talented players that surround him. The Minnesota return of Everson Griffen, Sheldon Richardson, and Stephen Weatherly boosts the expectations for the defensive line. The second-team defensive line that the Vikings can put on the field is impressive.

LE	Stephen Weatherly
DT	Sheldon Richardson
NT	Armon Watts
RE	Everson Griffen

That group is probably better than any that the Vikings were able to put on the field last season. What a difference a tiresome offseason can make.