Preseason Week 2: Vikings Stock Report
By Jon Merckle
And that’s two preseason games in the books. Let’s do a stock report…
UP
Juaquin Iglesias & Devin Aromashodu
We’ll get to Bernard Berrian being a down stock soon. Dan touched upon Leslie Frazier making an off-handed remark about not knowing who his 3rd WR would be. Well… Percy Harvin is unquestionably #1 and Michael Jenkins is also a lock to make roster. So what does that leave? In the meantime, Iglesias and Aromashodu both are doing some good things at WR each catching two balls for 30 yards. Both have demonstrated chemistry so far with Christian Ponder and to say that doesn’t at least mean something would be naïve considering how much is invested in the moppy haired rookie.
Larry Dean
Who is this guy? Dean is an undrafted rookie playing weakside linebacker. While much of his work was going against a 2nd and 3rd team offense the fact is he lead the team with 7 tackles in a victory. He demonstrated high-end speed and solid tackling technique. Another game like this and the Valdosta State product may work his way onto the roster.
Kyle Rudolph
So much of the Vikings passing attack has been built on quick reads and getting rid of the ball in a hurry. With Visanthe Shiancoe out Krudy shined leading the team in 3 receptions. His blocking needs improvement, but a Notre Dame player may actually pan out in the NFL.
DOWN
Charlie Johnson
The Vikings offensive line continues to be a godforsaken mess. The worst play of the evening was when Johnson whiffed badly on trying to block Raheem Brock who ended up sacking Donovan McNabb for an 8-yard loss. Frazier said earlier this week the offensive line will remain in flux for an unspecified time frame, which is a problem considering by the middle of preseason every team should have their starters penciled in at the most important positions & left tackle is certainly one of those. We shall see what comes in the next couple of weeks. With every bad play Johnson makes trying to protect McNabb’s blind side DeMarcus Love or Phil Loadholt (who also didn’t look great) is one step closer.
Bernard Berrian
The “starters” were on the field for about 15 plays with Berrian being one of them. He was frozen out however by McNabb not receiving one target all night. Berrian’s forte has been running downfield to open things up for the offense. With the offensive line a mess the theme so far is to get the ball out quickly, however still not receiving one target is a problem. You’d also think that Berrian would be upset or vocal on the sidelines, but we saw him yawning during the game. Yes, preseason can at times be a snoozer. We just expect more.
Jasper Brinkley
This linebacker has absolutely gone astray. Brinkley’s bread and butter has been stuffing running backs coming up the middle and hitting them so hard you almost forget about the fact he’s somewhat of a liability in coverage. Well versus the Seahawks he looked like a chicken running around with his head cut off and not even putting himself in position to make tackles. Brinkley’s chances of getting the weakside linebacker position are all but gone. We’ll just hope for a better performance for what’s left of preseason.
That’s it for now. Enjoy the rest of your evening.
Jon Merckle may be followed on Twitter @thevikingpig