7 best moves of the Minnesota Vikings 2021 offseason

Re-tooling the special teams

Special teams have never really been a strength for the Vikings since Mike Zimmer became the team’s head coach in 2014. But last season, Minnesota’s special teams were just embarrassingly awful.

The Vikings ranked near the bottom of the NFL in just about every special teams category last year. Minnesota had a kicker who missed way too many field-goal attempts, a punter who struggled to pin opponents inside their 20-yard line, a return game that was basically non-existent, and a coverage unit that had a difficult time not giving up big returns.

So after the 2020 season ended, the Vikings did not renew the contract of special teams coordinator Marwan Maalouf, they cut Dan Bailey, and they used multiple picks in this year’s draft on guys who should be able to help improve their return abilities.

Minnesota’s special teams are still a concern heading into next season. But they’ve at least made the necessary moves to help prevent last year’s disaster from happening again.