There was odd speculation the Minnesota Vikings would be changing the position of Anthony Barr this season, but Mike Zimmer confirmed he is a linebacker.
There was some weird speculation going on recently that I hadn’t heard. That tidbit was that Anthony Barr was going to be moved from outside linebacker to become a defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings.
The Star Tribune discussed this “talk” in an article on their website and somehow this speculation moved all the way into the media, where someone actually asked head coach Mike Zimmer if a position change was going to happen.
As expected, Zimmer pulled no punches and gave a straight forward answer. However, he also qualified his answer a little bit as to not give away entirely what the team will be expecting from Anthony Barr in 2019 and beyond.
"“He’ll be a linebacker,” Zimmer said. “We’re doing a few different things defensively so you’ll get a chance to see how it looks, but we’re going to make a few changes with some of the things schematically just from our offseason study.”"
Last season, Barr was asked to do a lot. He rushed the passer, participated in run support, and dropped back in coverage to keep defenses guessing. However, hope is that although Barr is athletic and quick, he won’t be dropping back in coverage too much anymore.
The Vikings will want to use Barr mostly as a pass rusher or contain player if they want to get the most out of him. Moving him closer to the line of scrimmage makes sense, but that is something Mike Zimmer can do with his linebackers without a position change.
With the success of Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen at defensive end as well as Stephen Weatherly and other talented players on the roster, moving Barr when depth at linebacker would be a confusing move.
How this “rumor” started is still up in the air, but it’s good to know that Mike Zimmer isn’t going to be making one of these massive moves to his team when he’s got a piece he was instrumental in drafting for the Minnesota Vikings defense. Who knows, maybe the next “talk” fans will hear is that he’s moving to punter…or kicker.