Saturday night Mike Zimmer played Eric Kendricks at the Mike with the first team, then went to Gerald Hodges and then former starting Mike Audie Cole.
More from Minnesota Vikings News
- Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North
- Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take
- 6 Vikings who (maybe) won’t make the 53-man roster in 2023
- Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022
- Vikings have reportedly begun extension talks with T.J. Hockenson
On Monday, the Vikings practiced with Kendricks in the middle with the first team base defense and in nickel, then had Cole in with the second team.
So clearly, Eric Kendricks has won the starting Mike linebacker job, right? Not so fast.
Mike Zimmer says he hasn’t settled on a starting Mike for this weekend’s preseason game vs. Dallas. It’s even possible that Gerald Hodges will get a look with the first unit.
So the Mike competition is still wide open, right?
I don’t buy it for a second. I think Zimmer has already made up his mind about Kendricks starting but is just playing it out with his rookie.
To me, Kendricks already looks like a starting-quality player.
Kendricks was drafted in the 2nd round this year and has done nothing but improve on a weekly basis. He has shown his talent and his ability to learn.
Zimmer himself expressed how impressed he was by Kendricks’ adjustments on Saturday (via Star-Tribune):
"“He fitted one thing wrong and then they ran basically the same play later and he got it right after we corrected it on the sideline,” Zimmer said."
The only reason we’re still talking about Gerald Hodges and Audie Cole is because Mike Zimmer likes to test rookies by making them battle in camp and preseason.
Zimmer isn’t just trying to see his rookies’ talent, he wants to see how they handle being used in different roles, having different things thrown at them.
Basically, Zimmer is deliberately trying to frustrate these guys to see if they actually get down on themselves. It’s a character test as much as a skill test.
From the outside, it certainly looks like Eric Kendricks has passed the test.
Zimmer may not be ready to declare Kendricks the #1 Mike today, but it won’t be long now. Soon Zimmer will confirm what we’ve all known for a little while: Eric Kendricks is a rookie starter.
Next: Mick Tingelhoff enters Hall of Fame
More from The Viking Age
- 6 biggest draft steals in Minnesota Vikings history
- Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North
- Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take
- 6 Vikings who (maybe) won’t make the 53-man roster in 2023
- Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022