Last season, the Minnesota Vikings had a tied for league-high 33 takeaways. Turnovers can be random, literally driven by how the ball bounces sometimes, but Brian Flores' defense has generated just nine takeaways through 11 games this season.
Five of those takeaways came in one game (Week 3 against the Cincinnati Bengals), and two takeaways over the last six games are a below-surface reason why the Vikings have lost five of those contests.
Looking deeper to find a reason for the lack of takeaways, we can, of course, hone in on players. Some key defensive pieces have missed multiple games this season, which has altered what Flores can do with his typically complex coverage and blitz structures.
But someone who has not missed a game, and has barely missed a defensive snap thus far, has had a noticeable drop-off in performance this season.
The Minnesota Vikings' significant investment has fallen off a cliff while no one was looking
As expected, since he's the quarterback, the struggles of J.J. McCarthy have taken up all the air space when it comes to talk about struggling Vikings' players this season. But he is not the only one who's struggling, of course
In his first season as a Viking, 2023, Byron Murphy Jr. filled the team's need for a solid cornerback just fine (three interceptions, 13 pass breakups). Last year, he took it to a whole new level, with 81 total tackles, six interceptions, and 14 pass breakups as he earned the first Pro Bowl selection of his career.
The Vikings rewarded Murphy with a three-year, $54 million contract last offseason. Through 11 games this season, he has yet to nab an interception, and he has just three pass breakups.
How much someone has been targeted in their coverage varies by source, but part of Murphy's lack of impactful plays so far this season undeniably lies there. On a per-game basis, he is simply being targeted less than last season.
That being said, he has also not been as effective in coverage, with a passer rating allowed stretching north of 100.0 no matter where you look. He has also been penalized more already this season (six times) than he was all of last year (four times).
The eye test regarding Murphy's drop-off is backed up by Pro Football Focus data and grades. His coverage grade has dropped nearly 20 points compared to last year, and his overall grade has gone from 22nd among cornerbacks last year to 90th at the position entering Week 13.
PFF data also shows, shy of a hidden injury, what may be a big part of the issue for Murphy.
Last season, Murphy spent 32.6 percent of his snaps lined up as a cornerback in the slot (325 out of 997 snaps). So far this year, that rate is down to 18.6 percent (112 of 603 cornerback snaps). Murphy is literally further away from the ball more often, and the ball is being thrown in his direction less often.
Murphy's most valuable trait is his ability to line up outside and in the slot (and be equally effective). That has been diminished this season, on a snap count basis, by Jeff Okudah missing time and a more general lack of bodies to play cornerback.
Murphy's drop-off in performance this season has largely flown under the radar. But with the Vikings' defense struggling to get takeaways like it is week after week, whatever's causing his lack of impact is becoming more noticeable.