What are some of the biggest unknowns for the Minnesota Vikings as they get ready for the franchise’s 57th season in the NFL?
The schedule has been released, the draft has concluded, and mini-camp is just around the corner for the Minnesota Vikings as they prepare for the upcoming season. Members of the Vikings front office have added a plethora of new talent to the team’s roster this offseason and now it is up to Minnesota’s coaches to make sure their players are ready to get the team back to the postseason in 2017.
Despite all of the moves the Vikings have made since last year came to an end, there are still a bunch of questions that have to be answered before the team plays its first game of the 2017 regular season against the New Orleans Saints on Monday, September 11.
Unfortunately, answers for some of these questions may not become definitive until Minnesota is already halfway through their season. But for the sake of the team’s success in 2017, it is best that these problems get solved before the Vikings take the field in Week 1.
Who is Minnesota’s punter?
The Vikings had a number of departures in free agency this offseason and one of them was punter Jeff Locke, who opted to sign a new deal with the Indianapolis Colts. Locke has been Minnesota’s starting punter since the team selected him in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
His play was nothing special, so his absence should not be a huge problem in 2017. But assumptions and actual reality are also two very different monsters when it comes to the history of the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota now has to figure out who will be punting the ball for them for the first time in four years.
Currently, the Vikings have two punters on their roster in Ryan Quigley and Taylor Symmank. Quigley played with the Arizona Cardinals in 2016 and spent his previous three seasons with the New York Jets. Symmank last played for Texas Tech in 2015 and has never punted a ball in an actual NFL game.
The edge at this point seems to be leaning in favor of Quigley based on his experience level. But there is certainly no guarantee as good a offseason from Symmank could eventually result in him becoming Minnesota’s new starting punter.
Who will be the Vikings new kick returner?
Minnesota has been extremely lucky for the past four years to have a dynamic player like Cordarrelle Patterson returning kicks for them. But now Patterson is a member of the Oakland Raiders and the Vikings have to figure out who will be taking his place on their kick return unit.
There are a handful of candidates on their current roster that Minnesota could choose for this role. Marcus Sherels, Jarius Wright, Terrell Sinkfield, and rookie Rodney Adams all seem like viable options as a kick returner for the Vikings in 2017.
Keep an eye on Sinkfield as a dark horse in this offseason race. He was brought in this year as a cornerback, but he has mind-blowing speed (4.3 40 time) and experience in returning kicks from his time in college and in the CFL.
Sherels seems like the safe choice right now due to his reliability as Minnesota’s punt returner for the past six years. However, the Vikings may want to give someone new an opportunity to make a name for them self as the team’s kick returner.
Is Teddy Bridgewater going to play at all?
With every day that passes by, a new report or prediction seems to come out about the chance of Bridgewater stepping on the field for Minnesota in 2017. But honestly, no one knows the real answer except for the quarterback and those who have remained close to him during his recovery process.
It is not like his injury is something that teams are used to dealing with these days either. If he is ready to play this preseason, then he should be allowed to do so.
But if his knee takes longer to heal and Bridgewater has to sit out another season, then so be it. The Vikings at least have a starting quarterback for this year so there is no need to rush Bridgewater back onto the field until he is both physically and mentally ready to do so.
The plus side for Minnesota if the quarterback misses his second straight season would be that his current contract will toll and he would still be signed until 2019. At least the Vikings current quarterback situation is still a dream compared to what their divisional counterparts in the Chicago Bears are dealing with this offseason.
Will the offensive line be any better in 2017?
Last season’s offensive line for Minnesota was a straight up abomination. There is really no other way to describe it.
They could not pass block for more than two seconds and they could not create any lanes for the team’s running backs to get through. So this offseason the Vikings’ front office went back to the drawing board in an effort to find some players that are actually capable of preforming the necessary duties of being and NFL offensive lineman.
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This year, Minnesota brought in veteran offensive tackles Riley Reiff and Mike Remmers during free agency and the team also used two draft picks on interior offensive linemen in Pat Elflein and Danny Isidora. The Vikings have also added a few of undrafted free-agents recently including tackle Aviante Collins and guard Freddie Tagaloa in hopes that they will at least improve the position group’s depth.
2017 will also be the first season without Matt Kalil on the roster. A player that Minnesota used a top five draft selection on in 2012 and then never turned out to be the franchise left tackle the team was hoping for.
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After last year’s line was torn to pieces by a multitude of injuries, the Vikings seem to at least attempting to make sure the depth of their unit is full of more talented players than the last few seasons. But for Minnesota, the real hope is that the team can rely on a solid starting five for all of 2017 and not have a repeat of last season’s version of offensive line musical chairs.