What are some new Minnesota Vikings divisional rivalries we’ll see debut in 2020?
The NFC North got a whole lot more interesting for the Minnesota Vikings after the 2020 NFL Draft and free agency. There will be new veteran faces in the division, as well as plenty of young first-year players. With these new faces, comes new inter-divisional rivalries.
Whether its a new Vikings defender going against a grizzled veteran of the NFC North or a veteran Minnesota player taking on a young newcomer, it won’t take long for these guys to get acquainted with each other.
It’ll be fun to see how these new players acclimate to the division, which is known for its physical play on both sides of the ball.
Let’s go over some of the new NFC North rivalries the Vikings will get to see for the first time in 2020. A few of these may happen more often than others, as it’s still uncertain how much some of these young rookies will see the field in 2020.
Adam Thielen vs. Jeffrey Okudah
With the third overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions took Jeffrey Okudah and they clearly think he can develop into a shutdown corner for them.
Okudah has great physical traits, standing at 6-foot-1 and weighing in at 205 pounds to go with his nice, lanky limbs. The rookie corner has great ball skills and he routinely shut down some of the top wide receivers in the nation during his college career.
That’s what the Lions will want him to do for them and one of the biggest tests he could face during his first year will be when he lines up across from Vikings receiver Adam Thielen.
As far as size goes, Thielen has an inch on Okudah. But other than that, it’s a pretty fair matchup. Thielen wins with his quickness off his release and exceptional route running. He also has the ability to haul in catches while being blanketed and sometimes it doesn’t matter if the man covering him has perfect positioning.
Okudah has the quickness to match Thielen stride-for-stride and step-for-step. The question is how often Detroit will let their prized rookie try and keep up with Minnesota’s top receiver. Despite his raw talent, Okudah is still a rookie and he could get embarrassed by a veteran like Thielen in year one.
Instead, the Lions might try to put a veteran cornerback like Justin Coleman or Desmond Trufant on Thielen. However, the Vikings will probably try to move Thielen around to possibly get that matchup with the highly touted, but inexperienced, rookie.
With Thielen signed through 2024, he’ll likely be seeing a lot of Okudah over the coming years. We will get our first glimpse of this rivalry this season and there’s a good chance that the Minnesota receiver will be the early winner.
Michael Pierce vs. D’Andre Swift
This offseason, the Vikings brought in the “Juggernaut” Michael Pierce to be the primary run-stuffer in the middle of their defense. Pierce excelled in this role with the Baltimore Ravens and he will be expected to play at the high level that Linval Joseph displayed out on the field with Minnesota for so many years.
While there are a lot of great running backs in the NFC North that Pierce will be facing for the first time, one of the newer ones will be the rookie the Lions selected in the second round of this year’s NFL Draft, D’Andre Swift.
Swift is an extremely patient runner with great vision. He will wait for a hole to develop and then burst through it to pick up a huge gain. He has great lateral agility and he can make guys miss. He’s also an asset in the passing game and he will surely be a target for Detroit quarterback Matt Stafford coming out of the backfield.
It’ll be Pierce’s job to help slow the opposing running game every week for the Vikings. He’ll need to be patient when playing this exciting rookie of the Lions though. If he’s over-aggressive, Swift could make one cut and then be gone for a big gain.
Pierce will need to fight off his blockers while trying to keep containment and not get out of his lane. This will be an exciting battle to watch for many years to come and we’ll see the first couple of chapters of it in 2020.
Jeff Gladney Vs. Kenny Golladay
The Lions have three exciting new rivalries with the Vikings that have come out of the 2020 offseason and this is the third of the bunch.
Detroit’s receivers have given Minnesota’s defense headaches at times. The combination of Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones has found great success in their recent matchups with the Vikings, as they’ve combined for 35 receptions for 380 yards and five touchdowns during the last two seasons.
With Golladay being the younger of the two, the Lions will likely commit to him for the longterm and make him their No. 1 target moving forward.
During the first round of this year’s NFL Draft, Minnesota added former TCU corner Jeff Gladney and he could eventually emerge as the Vikings’ top cornerback down the road. This would make these two talented players faceoff twice per year and it could be quite the battle.
Golladay has a huge advantage over Gladney when it comes to size as he’s 6-foot-4 compared to Gladney’s 5-foot-10 frame. Despite the huge height advantage, Gladney has great ball skills and he knows when to go up and after the football. He’s also aggressive in coverage and he won’t back down to the intimidating presence of Golladay.
It’s unclear how much of this potential future battle we will see in 2020. Gladney could potentially begin the upcoming season as Minnesota’s nickel corner and the Vikings will probably try to put a bigger cornerback like Holton Hill on Golladay.
However, Detroit will likely want to exploit the size advantage Golladay has and they could move him around so he ends up going against the rookie in some formations.
While we may not get a lot of one-on-one battles this season, we may get a couple. Going against the huge and talented Golladay should give Minnesota an idea of what their young rookie corner is made of.
Eric Kendricks vs. Cole Kmet
The Bears didn’t get to make a pick in this year’s NFL Draft until the second round, but they ended up finding great value with some of their choices.
On offense, Chicago was able to land tight end Cole Kmet. Watching film of this 6-foot-6, 262-pound kid could remind one of current Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Kmet big, physical, and quick. He’ll be a nice safety valve for Mitch Trubisky or Nick Foles and he will assuredly be a thorn in the Vikings side for many seasons to come as he’s a physical mismatch for just about anyone who is tasked with trying to cover him.
While the Minnesota linebackers who cover Kmet could change depending on the formation, the one who is the best in pass coverage and who the Vikings would like to see on this big target is Eric Kendricks.
Kendricks took a huge step forward in his pass coverage a season ago. He stayed on his man like glue and was able to break up an astounding 12 passes in 2019. He’s easily Minnesota’s best cover linebacker and he could be their best chance to slow down this dangerous new weapon of the Bears’.
Kmet should see plenty of action this season, even though Chicago seems to have a stockpile of tight ends. He may play second fiddle early in the season to Jimmy Graham, but it probably won’t take him long to ascend to being the team’s number one tight end.
The Vikings will likely see plenty of him in their two contests against the Bears this year. For both of these matchups, Minnesota will be hoping Kendricks can slow the rookie down.
Justin Jefferson vs. Jaylon Johnson
The Bears got another steal in the second round of this year’s NFL Draft when they landed former Utah cornerback Jaylon Johnson.
Many thought Johnson could come off the board in the first round, with the Vikings actually being a great fit. He fell to the second round though due to some concerns about his technique and his tendency to take chances.
Like many of the rookies this year, Johnson will need to work his tail off to catch up and it could take until the midseason before he sees significant action for Chicago this year.
Johnson could be buried on the Bears depth chart early and the same could happen to Minnesota’s 2020 first-round choice, Justin Jefferson. If Jefferson is unable to make up lost ground from the cancellations of mini-camps and OTAs, he could find himself as far as fourth on the Vikings depth chart during the beginning of the upcoming season.
This could cause him to only see action in four-receiver sets and the man he could end up lining across from in those situations is Johnson.
As far as size goes, these guys are closely matched. Jefferson has about an inch on Johnson and speed-wise they are also neck and neck. These matchups will come down to technique in their early bouts against each other and it could be a battle that goes both ways.
Of all the rivalries on this list, this is one that could have the longest span. Jefferson is seen as the Vikings’ future top target in the passing game and Johnson could also ascend to being one of the top corners for Chicago.
These youngsters could see quite a bit of each other over the coming years. 2020 will hold the first matchups in what could end up being a very good and even rivalry.
Vikings Defense vs. Jordan Love
The Green Bay Packers draft this year was pretty gross overall and it doesn’t provide many exciting new rivalries for the Vikings this season. One, however, that we may not see much of this year, but we will in the future, is the Packers’ new quarterback Jordan Love against Minnesota’s defense.
Vikings fans have to admit whether they like it or not that facing the Green Bay quarterbacks during the last two decades has been a challenging, but extremely rewarding experience.
Minnesota had to go against Brett Favre twice a year for many seasons. Sometimes the Vikings defense got the best of him and other times he made incredible plays that beat Minnesota and broke the hearts of their fans.
The same can be said for Aaron Rodgers. The Packers found lightning in a bottle twice and followed up one Hall of Fame quarterback with another.
Rodgers has had plenty of moments against the Vikings where he’s lead Green Bay to a victory. However, there have been plenty of times where Minnesota’s pass rush has gotten to him and forced him to have a bad game, giving the Vikings the win.
Is it possible the Packers found themselves another great quarterback? Love is an athletic and mobile quarterback with a live arm. His accuracy can be an issue, but the team can work on his mechanics before he needs to see any meaningful snaps.
The Vikings’ defensive rivalry with Love is probably still a couple of years away, however, there is a way it happens this year. Obviously, the first is a potential Rodgers injury.
If Rodgers goes down, the Packers will give the reins to their young quarterback, giving him a trial by fire. The other would be if either the Green Bay or Minnesota are way up late in a game and the Packers decide to give Love some experience.
It’s hard to say at this point what type of quarterback Love will end up being. If he’s good, the Vikings will take extra pleasure in defeating him.
If he ends up being the Packers’ first miss in awhile at the position, Minnesota will also take pleasure in making sure his stay in Green Bay is a short one.