Who are the Minnesota Vikings missing the most this season?
During the 2020 offseason, the Minnesota Vikings made a bunch of changes to their roster, mainly on the defensive side of the ball.
With Mike Zimmer’s strong defensive background, the Vikings felt that they wouldn’t have much trouble replacing the production lost on defense this year. However, Zimmer and Minnesota have quickly learned that they probably shouldn’t have parted ways with some of their longtime defensive contributors this offseason.
The Vikings are currently sitting with an 0-3 record and they have one of the worst defenses in the entire NFL that is giving up the second-most points per game. Prior to 2020, Minnesota’s defense has never ranked lower than 11th in points allowed since Zimmer became the team’s head coach in 2014.
The Vikings can’t stop the run, they can’t defend the pass, and they can’t put pressure on the opposing quarterback. These are all things that their defense has been able to excel at during the majority of Zimmer’s tenure.
He likely wouldn’t admit it, but the Minnesota head coach probably wishes that some of the veteran defenders from the team’s 2019 roster were still with the team this season. Who are some of these former Vikings players Zimmer and the front office likely regret parting ways with this year?
Linval Joseph – DT
Did we mention Minnesota’s defense can’t stop the run? Well, in terms of yards allowed per carry, the Vikings have been fairly decent this season (12th-lowest average). But opposing teams have been wearing down Minnesota this year by running the ball at a high rate and exhausting the defense.
Unlike in season’s past, the Vikings’ opponents don’t have to worry about a massive defensive tackle like Linval Joseph to clog up their running lanes. In two of their three games this year, Minnesota has allowed the opposing running back to finish with at least 100 yards on the ground.
That isn’t something that has typically happened during Mike Zimmer’s tenure as the Vikings head coach. But like we mentioned earlier, Minnesota had Joseph to clog up holes in the past and he’s not a part of their roster this season.
Instead, the talented defensive tackle is now a member of the Los Angeles Chargers. So far this year, Joseph has appeared in all three games for the Chargers and he’s racked up a total of 10 tackles and two pressures.
The Vikings’ original plan was to replace their longtime nose tackle with free-agent Michael Pierce. But then Pierce opted-out for the season due to COVID-19 concerns and Minnesota has been forced to turn to other defensive tackles on their roster who are better suited for the three-technique role and not as a nose tackle.
So since the Vikings’ replacement plan didn’t end up working out, Joseph has to be someone who Zimmer still wishes was on his team’s roster this year.
Everson Griffen – DE
Until he actually ended up officially signing with the Dallas Cowboys, most assumed that Everson Griffen was probably just going to find his way back to signing another contract with the Vikings this year.
But that didn’t happen and with Danielle Hunter missing Minnesota’s first three games of the season, the team’s pass rush has been virtually non-existent.
Through the first three weeks in 2019 with Hunter and Griffen as their two starting defensive ends, the Vikings defense had already accumulated 10 sacks. During their three games this season, Minnesota has only sacked the opposing quarterback three times.
The Vikings did trade for Yannick Ngakoue right before Week 1 and he showed some flashes in their game last weekend. But if Minnesota still had Griffen on the roster to combine with Ngakoue, then there probably wouldn’t be such a drastic decrease in their pass rush production this season.
Meanwhile, in Dallas, Griffen already has six pressures, four hurries, two quarterback hits, and one sack in three games this year. The fact that the Vikings pass rush is struggling so much just makes it even more difficult to watch Griffen trot onto the field in a Cowboys uniform this season.
Xavier Rhodes – CB
Prior to the start of the 2020 season, most probably would not have thought that Minnesota would be missing Xavier Rhodes. But Rhodes has been performing extremely well for the Indianapolis Colts so far this year while the Vikings pass defense is one of the worst in the NFL.
Minnesota has given up the third-most passing yards in the league this season while allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 69.8 percent of their pass attempts and finish each contest with an average rating of 103.5.
Despite Rhodes’ struggles and some of the regression that the team’s pass defense experienced in 2019, the Vikings still allowed fewer pass yards, a lower completion percentage, and opposing passers only finished each week with an average rating of 86.1.
Minnesota thought they could make it by this year with a cornerback group that is full of rookies and inexperience. Unsurprisingly, this plan hasn’t gone well for the Vikings.
Over in Indianapolis, however, Rhodes is having quite the rebound campaign. He was just named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week after intercepting two passes in Week 3 and during his three games this year, quarterbacks have only been completing 44.4 percent of the passes thrown in his direction.
Rhodes is currently playing in a different defensive scheme than what Minnesota ran while he was on their roster. Still, the Vikings pass defense is struggling mightily this season and having a corner with tons of experience like Rhodes might have eliminated some of the problems the team is currently experiencing in their defensive backfield every week.