EAGAN, Minn. – The first day of padded practices is always an exciting time on the preseason schedule. It marks a milestone closer to real football, the one with big hits and catastrophic sacks.
We’re still not there yet, but we did get some good insight Monday into how the Vikings’ offensive- and defensive-line battles might yet play out. Not only that, but we get a good sense of how physicality might impact skill-position players. Cornerbacks who were having a good camp might not see it the same way once receivers have more latitude to fight for the ball.
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Getting that first practice in the books also means more jawing and scuffles as contact ratchets up tensions and frustrations. That can also result in injuries, and the Vikings will have to be careful. On that front, they did lose tight end Irv Smith Jr. for a short time Monday as he walked off the field with an athletic trainer before coming back. He was fully kitted out in pads, but he never put on his helmet and didn’t participate for the rest of practice.
Running back Kene Nwangwu was present for practice but was wearing neither pads nor a helmet. Before practice, special teams coordinator Matt Daniels mentioned there was a process in place to keep players like Nwangwu healthy, implying that this was more a load-management decision than an injury worry. Given that Nwangwu missed the first six weeks of the 2021 season with a knee injury, there’s logic to it.
In better news, the Vikings activated cornerback Nate Hairston off of the non-football injury list, and he was a full participant throughout practice. Given the Vikings’ scant depth at the nickel spot, this could be a big boon for them. Meanwhile, linebacker Ryan Connelly and wide receiver Blake Proehl remain on the physically unable to perform list.
For the Vikings, being this healthy in camp is pretty unusual, and that’s not the only thing that’s different this year under coach Kevin O’Connell. The Vikings have, over the past week, pulled their starters away from the other players in their unit and had the position coach work with them individually while the assistant position coach works with the rest of the players in individual drills. This has been the case for Danielle Hunter, Za’Darius Smith, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks and Jordan Hicks.
Pads on.
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The more physical atmosphere in one-on-one and team drills hasn’t resulted in any fights, but the Vikings seemed close a few times as both the receiver/cornerback and offensive line/defensive line matchups saw some posturing and yelling after particularly animated reps.
The highlight takeaway from camp Monday might have been the successful two-minute drill from Kirk Cousins. He led the team down the field with passes to Zach Davidson, Bisi Johnson and Thielen before tossing a touchdown to K.J. Osborn. The pass was a dart to the near pylon that flew past the outstretched hands of Parry Nickerson to a diving Osborn for the score.
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For the skill players in the passing game, we saw more to cement the top-three receiver group, as Osborn — one drop aside — continued to outperform the receivers below him on the depth chart. Clearly in the fourth receiver spot is Ihmir Smith-Marsette, who saw quite a few targets on the first and second teams. Smith-Marsette found himself open both deep and underneath, and the Vikings seem comfortable using him in a variety of roles that take advantage of his speed, not just as a guy who can reel in 30-yard bombs. That’s not to say Smith-Marsette didn’t have his fair share of deep-ball opportunities, and one of his highlights in one-on-ones saw him beat Hairston deep downfield for a touchdown.
The previous two summers, Jefferson had not been a particularly impressive practice player, instead reserving his best work for the games. This year, his highlights have extended into training camp, where Jefferson has been lighting it up. He has earned and won targets at every level of the field and seems good for at least one highlight catch a day that draws cheers from the offense and applause from the fans.
It has been fun to see, though it has led to some frustrating days for cornerbacks. While Patrick Peterson hasn’t shown up in any receiver highlight reels, to his credit, the rest of the cornerback group has. The worst of it might go to Cameron Dantzler, who is doing well in his non-Jefferson opportunities but has had trouble corralling the young Pro Bowler. Those non-Jefferson reps, though, might be enough to make his case as a starter. Monday, he took full advantage of the physicality and pushed around receivers at the line of scrimmage, earned a pass deflection against Thielen and forced a fumble in team drills.
We saw some highlights from Akayleb Evans, too, who earned an impressive pass deflection on a comeback against Osborn and generally performed well all day. Fellow rookie corner Andrew Booth was back in action after sitting out Saturday, though he might have caught more attention for his confidence than his performance. He didn’t play poorly, but his willingness to continue guarding Jefferson, Osborn and other established receivers is generally seen as a positive among the defensive back group and the coaches.
Given that cornerback is a position where embarrassment is always on the docket, an enormous degree of unearned confidence is almost a job requirement. After an impressive opening day of camp, Booth will have to do more to prove his play can match his talk — but it’s not a bad thing to see out of the gate.
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Right now, Evans and Booth are running with the second team, and Harrison Hand seems to be the next cornerback on the depth chart. Given how the rookies have played so far, the Vikings may have more cornerback depth than we anticipated.
Along the trenches, we saw some real pass-rush reps in the one-on-ones. We saw Christian Darrisaw split reps against Hunter and Brian O’Neill handle Za’Darius Smith. When Hunter played against Oli Udoh in team drills, Hunter earned a clear set of wins, especially in the run game. That bodes well for the tackles likely to start for the Vikings, but the interior is concerning. Jesse Davis lost reps to Dalvin Tomlinson, and Garrett Bradbury was bowled over on consecutive reps by Harrison Phillips.
Armon Watts looked impressive in team reps but split individual reps with Ezra Cleveland. Among the backups on both lines, D.J. Wonnum and T.J. Smith impressed against Udoh and Austin Schlottmann, respectively.
Centers like Schlottmann and Bradbury are at a disadvantage in these drills because they are not typically tasked with one-on-one blocks while defending a large area of space without guard help, but it’s still concerning.
At linebacker, Kendricks had another impressive interception, while Troy Dye forced and scooped up a fumble. Tight end Johnny Mundt wasn’t as impressive as in previous practices, but we did see Davidson show out in the two-minute drill with two catches on the sideline for big gains that stopped the clock.
Defensively, the Vikings put together some interesting wrinkles, including a tight front look with a nose tackle directly over the center and both defensive ends on the inside shoulders of the opposing guards. They also showcased a look with one defensive lineman and two edges on the field, all crowded between the tackles. On the back end, they showed a look with six defensive backs with two linebackers in front of them.
This meant a look with Tomlinson, Za’Darius Smith and Hunter up front, linebackers Hicks and Kendricks in the middle and Dantzler, Peterson, Chandon Sullivan, Harrison Smith, Camryn Bynum and Josh Metellus in the secondary. Metellus and Sullivan played both slot roles in man coverage.
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There are a number of ways to get three safeties on the field, and it looks like this is going to be a continued experiment for defensive coordinator Ed Donatell. On plays like this, we might see someone like Hicks blitz in order to send four rushers, and we’ve even seen Hicks and Za’Darius Smith exchange on blitzes, with Hicks rushing up the middle and Smith manning a middle zone in coverage.
While there is a valid concern that the defense might try to simplify coverages in its first year to account for the talent problems at cornerback, it seems like the coaches might make up for it by complicating things for the opposing offense with what they do up front.
As for the specialist battle, we didn’t get to see much from returners — only Osborn and Smith-Marsette participated in return drills — but we did get to see the punters duke it out. When asked about the punting battle, Daniels was enthusiastic about the team’s metrics.
“We’re charting every single punt, so at the end of this thing, for a guy we decided to keep versus the guy we decide to cut, we have the statistics to show the why behind what we’re doing,” he said.
From what we saw in Monday’s practice, Jordan Berry was more consistent in matching hang time, location and distance, while Ryan Wright punted short and out of bounds or deep without hang time. Given how few punts there are in practice and how much time there is left to go, this doesn’t tell us much, but it likely gives Berry the edge he needs to keep the job for now.
At kicker, Vikings fans can rest comfortably knowing that Daniels is confident in Greg Joseph, who has gone 33-of-35 in his field goal opportunities in camp. Daniels says Joseph is poised for the best year of his career. After all, when have Vikings fans ever been burned by a kicker having a banner year?
(Photo: Matt Krohn / USA Today)
Arif Hasan has been writing about the Vikings and the NFL for more than a decade, specializing in deep-dive analysis using both film and analytics to break down the most pressing questions surrounding the team. His work has appeared locally and nationally, featuring in publications like the Star Tribune, the LA Times, the International Business Times, Forbes, MSNBC and Bleacher Report. Prior to joining The Athletic, Arif wrote for Zone Coverage. Follow Arif on Twitter @ArifHasanNFL
