Daily Norseman
I wasn’t there today but compiled a roundup of coverage
The Minnesota Vikings had their second practice in full pads on Wednesday and by all accounts it was another day of dominance by the defense. The defense dominated the first practice in full pads on Monday as well.
Veterans that had the day off yesterday were back in action today, including Christian Darrisaw taking his first reps in 11-on-11 drills- a sign he’s on track to play Week One. Isaiah Rodgers was also back out there after missing the past few practices with some soreness.
Defenses often have the upper hand early in training camp and with the Vikings this year it’s no different. Especially with a more experienced and healthy group well-versed in a more complex scheme, the Vikings’ defense has been giving the offense all it can handle and then some. That’s really been the case every year since Brian Flores came to Minnesota.
I wouldn’t take this as an indictment of the Vikings’ offense, as Will Fries is still ramping up and not taking all the team drill snaps, Donovan Jackson is a rookie still learning the system and acclimating to the league, and Christian Darrisaw only took his first few reps in team drills today. And Brian Flores isn’t holding back in his blitz packages either, which adds to the difficulty of an offensive line with three or four new players at the moment. In time they will get more in-sync and ramp up for the regular season.
It is exciting to see the Vikings with such a deep and talented defensive front. I mean the Vikings have Pro Bowl level talent at every position across the defensive line and backups that would be starters on other teams. That should also give the Vikings a strong rotation to keep everyone fresh throughout the game and season.
A couple would-be sacks shown above. In the first AVG beats Ryan Kelly- who didn’t get much help from Blake Brandel with Javon Hargrave- on a twist. In the second Jonathan Greenard spins past Justin Skule. Donovan Jackson actually looked good on both of those reps though.
Javon Hargrave does what he’s done his whole career- win the leverage battle and bullrush to the quarterback. Ryan Kelly getting a workout.
Here is a somewhat random assortment of other from today’s practice.
Vikings special teams coach Matt Daniels had a press conference today and answered some questions on the competition for special teams jobs.
He was asked about Oscar Chapman and the variety of punts he has to offer and Daniels said that Chapman has a lot of leg talent when it comes to the different punts in his toolkit and ball placement, etc. He also said he’s a rookie and so has a bit of a learning curve that he is climbing too.
When talking about the punt returner competition, he mentioned Rondale Moore,...
