Jalyn Holmes is shifting to the outside of the Minnesota Vikings defensive line.
Prior to getting selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Jalyn Holmes spent the majority of his college career at Ohio State lining up as a defensive end.
Once Holmes joined the Vikings, however, the team felt he would be a better fit on the inside as a defensive tackle. Minnesota’s decision hasn’t really resulted in much production from the young defensive lineman as he has only appeared in a total of 11 games during his two seasons with the team.
For Holmes, it seems like his time is running out to be an actual contributor for the Vikings defense. If he doesn’t make much a difference this year, Minnesota might even choose to move on from him before his rookie contract runs out in 2022.
Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman getting back to his roots
Among the most notable things to come out of this year’s Vikings training camp so far has been Holmes lining up as a defensive end. He’s also ditched his old No. 92 jersey number for No. 91, which was previously worn by former Minnesota defensive end Stephen Weatherly.
Holmes is still listed as a defensive tackle on the Vikings official website, but he’s been spending the majority of his time at camp on the outside of the defensive line according to multiple reports from those who have been in attendance.
It’s unclear if switching back to defensive end was a group decision made by both Minnesota and Holmes or not, but it seems like a bit of a last-ditch effort to get some sort of production out of him this season.
Without a ton of experience behind their two projected starting defensive ends, perhaps the Vikings wanted to shift Holmes over to the outside to make sure at least one of their pass-rushing reserves is familiar with the defensive scheme.
Minnesota added two defensive ends in this year’s NFL Draft with the selections of D.J. Wonnum and Kenny Willekes. But with there not being any minicamps, OTAs, or preseason games, it’s even more difficult to get rookies up to speed prior to the start of the regular season.
If Holmes switching back to defensive end results in him having a good training camp this summer, maybe he can take over the Vikings role as the team’s situational pass rusher that was previously held by Weatherly and Ifeadi Odenigbo in 2019.
Will Holmes’ position switch result in him becoming an important part of Minnesota’s defense for the first time since he joined the team in 2018?