The Minnesota Vikings are heading into the 2017 season with talented roster. Heading into training camp, the Vikings carry 12th best roster in the NFL.
At the end of the NFL season, 12 teams will earn their spot in the 2017 NFL Playoffs. Based on roster speculation, it looks like the Minnesota Vikings might be the last team to make the list of teams playing in the post season. ESPN recently ranked all NFL team rosters based on 2016 player grades. ESPN ranked the Vikings as the 12th best roster in the NFL.
This may come as a surprise to many since the Vikings missed the playoffs in 2016. Despite the Vikings failing to make the playoffs, their roster is still garnering the respect they deserve. The Vikings have the second strongest roster in the NFC North after The Green Bay Packers, who came in third place overall.
Harrison Smith is noted as the Minnesota Vikings biggest strength for the ranking. Smith leads a Vikings secondary Pro Football Focus ranked 7th overall last season. Their secondary is very strong all around. Pro Football Focus is also very high on Xavier Rhodes and Terence Newman. They said the following about the two starting corners.
"Despite being the oldest cornerback in the league by roughly five years, Terence Newman has continued to not only be the Vikings’ best corner, but a top-10 cornerback in the league. He allowed just 0.57 yards per snap in coverage, the lowest average for any cornerback this season. Xavier Rhodes also boasted league-bests among cornerbacks in completion percentage (48 percent) and passer rating (47.0) allowed into his coverage."
The Minnesota Vikings biggest weakness in ESPN’s roster ranking was veteran defensive end Brian Robison. He had a slow year compared to the rest of his career pressuring the quarterback only 49 times with 7.5 sacks. The Vikings are not concerned about that in the slightest way. Back up defensive end Danielle Hunter outperformed Robison with 12.5 sacks on the season . This ranking only took starters grade into consideration so depth has no factor.
Year 1: 6.0 sacks
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 1, 2017
Year 2: 12.5 sacks
Year 3: 🤔
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The Minnesota Vikings have a very talented roster on both sides of the ball. They have enough talent to make a playoff run. As long as they does not run out of steam, the Vikings will play very competitive football this season.