Experience
Last season, the Vikings took a risk by letting go of several longtime contributors and replacing them with rookies or guys who previously spent time at the bottom of the depth chart. This risk obviously did not pay off and Minnesota’s defensive performance suffered as a result.
This year, the Vikings defense will feature players that have an extensive amount of starting experience. This doesn’t mean Minnesota’s defense is going to resemble the lobby of the local nursing home, but they will have more players out on the field that know what it takes to succeed in the NFL.
Of the 11 guys that are currently projected to open the 2021 season in the starting lineup for the Vikings defense, nine of them have started at least 30 games since beginning their NFL careers.
The experiment with a younger defense failed for Minnesota last year, so the team’s front office went out this offseason to make sure that Mike Zimmer had more than enough veteran pieces to help the unit get back to being elite.