Trey Hendrickson – DE
When talking about Saints defense, many quickly begin talking about defensive end Cameron Jordan or cornerback Marcus Lattimore. While those are two very good players, one guy who the Vikings will need to pay extra close attention to on Friday is defensive end, Trey Hendrickson.
Hendrickson is quietly having an All-Pro caliber type of season. He has an eye-popping 12.5 sacks this year with 24 tackles with 11 tackles of them being for a loss. More than half of his tackles this season have been sacks. That is a crazy stat.
Hendrickson will be drooling to face the Vikings offensive line after watching tape of their recent performances including when Minnesota’s blockers were destroyed by the Bears’ front seven last week, which resulted in Kirk Cousins taking a beating.
The Vikings offensive line didn’t fare much better in the team’s recent games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Jacksonville Jaguars either and they are a unit that is especially weak in the interior. The Saints could send Hendrickson on some looping stunts or just line him up in the middle on passing downs and let him feast upon Dakota Dozier and Ezra Cleveland.
While Hendrickson is clearly chomping at the bit to face Minnesota’s offensive line, they will also be watching film and game planning on how to slow him down.
Cousins will need to get the ball out quickly and the Vikings should try to double team Hendrickson as often as possible. If he’s left one-on-one or he isn’t properly accounted for, he could make a big play that changes the outcome of this Christmas contest.