Entering his third season as Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator, Brian Flores has earned a good bit of trust if there are players he wants for his unit. He has made a jack-of-all-trades star out of safety Josh Metellus; he clearly wanted to reunite with edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel last offseason, and this offseason, he hand-picked cornerback Isaiah Rodgers.
It's fair to assume no player who is allowed to leave on the defensive side of the ball comes without Flores having a plan to replace him beforehand. So when safety Cameron Bynum signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts in March, there was a plan to replace a key piece of the secondary.
Actually, that plan was revealed before Bynum even inked his deal with the Colts.
ESPN's Ben Solak dove a little deeper, beyond quarterbacks and rookies, to find a big x-factor for each NFL team heading into the 2025 season. So the crutch everyone else goes with to name J.J. McCarthy as the Vikings' biggest x-factor this season was not in play.
Minnesota Vikings' x-factor in line for his star turn in Brian Flores' defense
The Vikings signed safety Theo Jackson to a two-year $12.615 million contract extension before free agency started in March. That foreshadowed their plans to make him a starter, and with that in mind, Solak named him as his X-Factor for them.
"The 2024 Vikings' defense starred three safeties: Cam Bynum and Harrison Smith each played more than 1,000 snaps, and Joshua Metellus was just behind with 991. Bynum was the deep middle player in Brian Flores' chaotic defense full of coverage traps and rotations.
As such, Bynum was hugely productive on the football, tallying 12 pass breakups and five interceptions over the past two seasons.
Bynum left for Indianapolis on a big free agent deal, leaving Jackson to fill his shoes. Jackson has taken fewer than 200 defensive snaps combined over the previous two campaigns. But he has been lauded for his preparation in the Vikings' building, where he was the primary backup safety for all three of Metellus, Bynum and Smith -- three very different roles.
Flores has enjoyed having a reliable safety blanket in Bynum, who allowed him to call many of his more aggressive blitzes; if Jackson can offer the same production, expect Minnesota's D to keep chugging."
Over his first three seasons with the Vikings, Jackson has been a core special teamer (875 snaps) while playing a total of just 222 defensive snaps. So it seems like quite a leap to put him in Bynum's role (over 1,000 snaps in each of the last three seasons), but as money was heavily invested elsewhere this offseason, savings had to come from somewhere.
That said, a $6 million per year average in his contract extension says the Vikings think Jackson is plenty capable. He just hasn't had much opportunity for a defensive role thus far. Now that is changing, and he is lined up to be one of the next stars that Flores' defensive system unveils.