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Chad Greenway Thinks He Can Still Be 3-Down Linebacker

By Dan Zinski

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Chad Greenway has never been much of a nickel linebacker, and as the years and snaps have piled up and his speed and agility have dwindled even further, he’s gone from barely adequate in that role to a downright liability.

But Greenway, ever the competitor, is not yet ready to cede nickel linebacker duties to anyone else on the team. Greenway told reporters Wednesday that he thinks he can still be a 3-down linebacker and wants to fight to retain nickel duties (via ESPN):

"“I don’t think you’d ever be open to that. I want to compete to win that job,” Greenway said before teeing off at the Vikings Children’s Fund Golf Tournament on Wednesday. “I know, when healthy, I’m capable of playing really well at that position, so I’m not ready to concede that. But at the same time, I’m ready to do what it takes to win. At this point in my career, that’s what I’m going to do.”"

But the plain fact staring Greenway in the face is that the Vikings have multiple linebackers who, at this point in their careers, are better than him when it comes to performing coverage duties in nickel sets.

I’m not even talking necessarily about rookie Eric Kendricks, who projects as a good coverage linebacker but has yet to prove anything in the NFL. Gerald Hodges is already a better nickel option than Greenway, as Hodges demonstrated amply last year, and Audie Cole too has shown that he can get after it in coverage.

If Greenway does end up manning nickel duties at the start, it will only be because Mike Zimmer likes having his veteran presence out there. Greenway last year took on “coach on the field” duties, and Zimmer clearly was comforted by having an older player who could be vocal and get his teammates lined up.

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By all accounts, Eric Kendricks has many of the same leadership qualities as Greenway, and is a player who could grow into that vocal on-the-field presence around whom the rest of the defense gels. Once Kendricks gets the defense down, you have to believe he and fellow former UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr will be the two linebackers out there in nickel sets.

And Zimmer probably also will mix in some more exotic alignments as the season wears in, making use of utility players like Taylor Mays, who assumed a rover role for Zimmer in Cincinnati.

One thing you can be sure of is that, with the NFL being a more pass-happy league than ever, Zim is going to want his best cover guys out there as much as possible. And Chad Greenway is not one of his best cover guys.

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