As the Minnesota Vikings prepare for the upcoming season, CBS Sports recently broke down the most burning question of the team heading into 2020.
At this point in time, the Minnesota Vikings on paper have bolstered their team and are anxiously awaiting training camp to see how everything falls into place. They added solid talent all across the roster with hopes of once again being a playoff-contending team this upcoming season. For the most part, there is only one area of the roster that should raise some concern and that’s with their defense.
To say the Vikings got poached in free agency is an understatement as a ton of impactful players on defense left for a new start elsewhere. It remains to be seen how much of an impact all these departures will have but general manager Rick Spielman has done a decent job at bringing in a plethora of new talent to balance things out. Hopefully, all these new defensive players that were brought in via free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft end up panning out as expectations are high for the Vikings.
CBS Sports recently broke down each team in the NFC North and what would be the most burning question they have to answer once the regular season arrives. Needless to say, they acknowledged the big elephant in the room that the Vikings’ defense might very well be an issue due to so many new players on that side of the football.
The defense of the Minnesota Vikings could be problematic in 2020
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In an article written by Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports, he broke down the most burning question for the Vikings, asking if their rebuilt defense can truly hold up down the stretch of a long season. Here are his thoughts on how it could be an issue:
"“Yes, Xavier Rhodes stunk it up in 2019, but losing him, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander means the secondary will be in a near-total rebuild and expecting more than even one of the rookie defensive backs to make an instant impact goes against the odds. The pass rush, meanwhile, hardly has any proven presence beyond Danielle Hunter.”"
That could be a disaster for the Vikings if their new-look secondary can’t get the job done throughout the season. Yes, the Vikings added some younger talent to their defense but as always, new players need time, patience, and constant coaching for them to play successfully at the pro level.
Of course, the Vikings’ secondary last season was still a major issue on the team as their high-octane offense kept them going strong for most of the year. If their defense played as good as their offense did, the Vikings could have gone the distance instead of a shocking exit in the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Benjamin made a great point in his article that the lack of a pass rush on the Vikings’ defense could be an issue as not much has been upgraded in that aspect. Since the NFL is dominantly a passing league, the Vikings could find themselves on the outside looking in if they’re not able to consistently pressure opposing quarterbacks. Especially in the NFC North where anything can and will happen due to how unpredictable the division can be during the long regular season ahead.