3 most disappointing Vikings rookies of the 2020 season

James Lynch – DT

James Lynch was another fourth-round choice of the Vikings in 200 who just didn’t show up much in his rookie campaign.

Lynch was coming off a 2019 season at Baylor where he had 13.5 sacks and he was viewed as a guy who could potentially be a three-technique penetrator for Minnesota’s defensive line. Despite not having much ahead of him on the depth chart, Lynch couldn’t get much of a sniff as a rookie.

Lynch struggled to be active on game day and he appeared in just nine games for the Vikings in 2020. In one contest, he flashed with a beautiful bull rush against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5 that netted him a sack on Russell Wilson. Lynch couldn’t build off that one shining moment and he only saw a handful of snaps after that.

While it isn’t uncommon for a fourth-round rookie to struggle early in his career, what made Lynch’s situation worse was the lack of talent ahead of him.

Jaleel Johnson was the incumbent three-technique for Minnesota and he wasn’t very good during the majority of the season. Lynch, despite showing elite pass-rush ability in college, couldn’t translate that to the NFL level in his first year.

The good news is that Lynch should be in the mix to compete for a starting job next season and he should be much better prepared with a full offseason and preseason under his belt.