Concerns

hogjowlsjohnny wrote:
What are your main concerns about the Vikings ? These concerns may change after the pre-season but I have 3 current concerns. I would like to hear yours.

1. The offensive line.

On paper the offensive line should be greatly improved. But due to injury the starters have had very little time to practice  together. The line that has practiced has been dominated by Flo's defense.
One could say the defense is ahead and special, but will the starters be able to all play and gel by the start of the season?

2. JJ arm talent.

JJ has a strong arm and can make all the throws. A strong arm doesn't equal accuracy. Will he be accurate. His accuracy was pretty good in college, but will it be in the NFL?

3. Defensive back play.

Will they be able to cover anyone. Who will be the man cover corner? Having a great front seven should help the backs, but there are times the front seven won't be able to get pressure.

I thought I would resurrect  this thread after pre season and roster construction to see if anything has changed.

I am no longer concerned about the O line or JJ. The defensive backfield, ball security on punts and kickoffs, and injuries are my only remaining concerns. I think the Vikings will once again surprise the national media folks who are pumping the Packers and even the Bears.
What say you?
Detroit will still be a challenge but I think the Vikings have evened things up with them a bit.

U have more faith in JJM than I do this early on...I think its going to be very un-even the 1st 1/2 of the season. I wont fall in luv with the kid, till I have no choice.

Too old, too scarred to have teen crushes anymore.

Evidently, I'm the only one gob-smacked with 4 corners on the 53 too. I dont care how much heavy nickel they play.

purplefaithful wrote:
U have more faith in JJM than I do this early on...I think its going to be very un-even the 1st 1/2 of the season. I wont fall in luv with the kid, till I have no choice.

Too old, too scarred to have teen crushes anymore.

Evidently, I'm the only one gob-smacked with 4 corners on the 53 too. I dont care how much heavy nickel they play.

I am not a roster guru, but I was stunned by that as well.

pattersaur wrote:
1. Injuries. Future ones of course but we have quite a few big names already banged up on offense. Hopefully it's minor stuff.

2. JJ McCarthy

3. Cornerbacks/Secondary
Harry is a year older, Metellus and Murphy just got fat contracts, and Mekhi Blackmon is maybe our CB2? Or some other guys I've barely heard of? I know we're all counting on the front 7 to shoulder the load for the defense, but I was there (Gandalf, 3,000 years ago) when Rodgers and every other QB in the league would pick on Josh Robinson or whoever our CB weak link of the week was. Hopefully the current group can gel and excel, but I have questions.

Honorable Mention Will Reichard. He's got the game. Let's see it for a full season.

Somewhat, these three.
I would rank them differently, however.

1.  Injuries (always a concern). This is like asking a hypochondriac if they're sick...of course this is everyone's concern.
2.  Cornerbacks/Secondary. Yes, I've been paying attention to the fact that Dirty Harry has not practiced in about 3 weeks now.  What kind of "personal health issue" might this be?
3.  JJM.  I think we are in for some speed bumps and he will definitely make some mistakes...but probably once.  But I'm not as worried about him as I would have been if we had kept Howell and been concerned if JJM got hurt...even for a series or half a game.  Yuck.  Looking at Brosmer's pre-season highlight films though, he's probably well ahead of Carson Wentz right now.

I'll keep it to Vikings-specific concerns -- every team is concerned about injuries.

1.  JJ McCarthy -- can he be the guy?  Until you see it at this level, you never know.  You can't get to where we want to go in today's NFL without competent QB play.  I also have concern that we exit the year still not knowing whether JJ will make it.  There are plenty of guys that kick around for a few years with their teams still not sure whether they have what they want or need to move on -- in some ways the pain of that limbo period is worse than outright failure.

2.  Defensive Backfield -- Slightly more of a CB concern than a safety concern, but the backend of the defense has me worried.  We are thin in numbers at CB (4!), and given the resumes of the guys we have, one has to be concerned that we are thin on talent as well.  Way too much riding on a renaissance from Jeff Okudah, and there has to be an emergency plan here -- I've seen teams lose 3 CBs to injury in a single game.  At safety, love Harrison Smith but I thought he looked like he was barely hanging on last year.  Theo Jackson needs a strong season.

3.  Special Teams -- No one seems to talk about it, but our special teams suck.  Pretty much across the board last year, our best special teamer left the team, and the one guy we brought in who looked like he could provide a lift to special teams is out for the season after one pre-season punt return.  From a previous post of mine commenting on 2024 special teams:

As a team, the Vikings were:

-- #31 in the NFL in kick return average
-- #32 in the NFL in punt return average

Will Reichard was:

-- #32 in FG percentage

Ryan Wright was:

-- #25 in gross punting average
-- #22 in net punting average
-- tied for the 7th worst touchback percentage
-- #30 in punts inside the 10

Okudah renaissance is a great point...

I wanna believe, I really do. But until I see it more than once???

PurplePorsche wrote:
I'll keep it to Vikings-specific concerns -- every team is concerned about injuries.

1.  JJ McCarthy -- can he be the guy?  Until you see it at this level, you never know.  You can't get to where we want to go in today's NFL without competent QB play.  I also have concern that we exit the year still not knowing whether JJ will make it.  There are plenty of guys that kick around for a few years with their teams still not sure whether they have what they want or need to move on -- in some ways the pain of that limbo period is worse than outright failure.

2.  Defensive Backfield -- Slightly more of a CB concern than a safety concern, but the backend of the defense has me worried.  We are thin in numbers at CB (4!), and given the resumes of the guys we have, one has to be concerned that we are thin on talent as well.  Way too much riding on a renaissance from Jeff Okudah, and there has to be an emergency plan here -- I've seen teams lose 3 CBs to injury in a single game.  At safety, love Harrison Smith but I thought he looked like he was barely hanging on last year.  Theo Jackson needs a strong season.

3.  Special Teams -- No one seems to talk about it, but our special teams suck.  Pretty much across the board last year, our best special teamer left the team, and the one guy we brought in who looked like he could provide a lift to special teams is out for the season after one pre-season punt return.  From a previous post of mine commenting on 2024 special teams:

As a team, the Vikings were:

-- #31 in the NFL in kick return average
-- #32 in the NFL in punt return average

Will Reichard was:

-- #32 in FG percentage

Ryan Wright was:

-- #25 in gross punting average
-- #22 in net punting average
-- tied for the 7th worst touchback percentage
-- #30 in punts inside the 10

Regarding special teams.  I think Reichard was good until he  got his quad injury.  Hopefully he bounces back.  I think kick returns are nice, but I don't think they are that important.  Same with punting average.

Top 3
1. CBs
2. CBs
3. CBs

Not only do we only have one CB who has been a #1 or #2 CB, the other 3 are huge question marks and we only have 4 on the roster, so if we have an injury we are playing a safety at CB. Just don't really get the plan here. It was by far the weak link of the defense last year and in response to that we let go of our #2 and #3 guys and replaced them with a guy who was a #5 last year and another guy who has never been any kind of consistent performer.

JR44 wrote:
Top 3 1. CBs 2. CBs 3. CBs

Not only do we only have one CB who has been a #1 or #2 CB, the other 3 are huge question marks and we only have 4 on the roster, so if we have an injury we are playing a safety at CB.  Just don't really get the plan here.  It was by far the weak link of the defense last year and in response to that we let go of our #2 and #3 guys and replaced them with a guy who was a #5 last year and another guy who has never been any kind of consistent performer.

It doesn't make much sense. I know they will play a lot of dime but this sounds like a lot of zone coverage as well. I wouldn't mind zone defense so much, if they would just cover the receivers when they come into their zone instead of covering a piece of turf.

This thread was started at a point when we all assumed Mekhi Blackmon would, at the very least, continue where he left off before his injury. He's since been traded and not adequately replaced IMO. So, like most of you, corner is a bigger concern for me now than it was in early August. 

I don't think this is a weakness we can't overcome with a lot of big nickel and some pressure on the QB, but the idea that Jeff Okudah is CB3 is somewhat alarming, especially if, God forbid, we suffer an injury at the position.

MaroonBells wrote:
This thread was started at a point when we all assumed Mekhi Blackmon would, at the very least, continue where he left off before his injury. He's since been traded and not adequately replaced IMO. So, like most of you, corner is a bigger concern for me now than it was in early August. 

I don't think this is a weakness we can't overcome with a lot of big nickel and some pressure on the QB, but the idea that Jeff Okudah is CB3 is somewhat alarming, especially if, God forbid, we suffer an injury at the position.

Like Sticky said, this is a tenured, smart and well informed staff...Probably one of the best imo if they start winning playoff games. 

But you know what? Smart can out-think itself and I think these guys just might be blinded by their internal logic. 

Okudah at 3???!!

Hope I'm wrong...The optics are such that they may be making some big errors that could bite em in the asz. Especially as you say, with an injury or two. Good thing that rarely happens in the NFL.

MaroonBells wrote:
This thread was started at a point when we all assumed Mekhi Blackmon would, at the very least, continue where he left off before his injury. He's since been traded and not adequately replaced IMO. So, like most of you, corner is a bigger concern for me now than it was in early August.  I don't think this is a weakness we can't overcome with a lot of big nickel and some pressure on the QB, but the idea that Jeff Okudah is CB3 is somewhat alarming, especially if, God forbid, we suffer an injury at the position.

Yep. But like anything else, injuries will hurt any team if you are talking the starters....especially longer than 1 or 2 games. Addison put the team in a bit of a spot for the first 3 games, but that's been fixed. The healthiest teams are usually the ones with the best records each year.