Bama in the NFL: Can Irv Smith Jr. and Dalvin Tomlinson Have a Breakout Season in Minnesota?
Since 2018, the Minnesota Vikings have been one of the few teams in the NFL that have simply been ... phenomenally average.
With a combined record of 33-32-1, the Vikings parted ways with long-time head coach Mike Zimmer after the 2021 season after four straight years of being right in the middle.
On Feb. 16, Minnesota hired 37-year-old Kevin O'Connell as its next head coach. He had been an NFL offensive coordinator for just two years, but that second season the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl.
O'Connell hopes to make the Vikings a consistent playoff contender during his tenure. But what that means in terms of personnel could take a while to become obvious.
Minnesota is filled with talent on both sides of the ball. It had four players make the Pro Bowl last year and have another five players on the roster who had made it within the past few years.
Two Vikings who have yet be named to the NFC team are their former Alabama players, tight end Irv Smith Jr. and defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson.
Selected with the 50th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Irv Smith Jr. is no stranger to injuries. The Crimson Tide product was out for the entire 2021 season due to a torn meniscus. He also had multiple groin and back injuries, which sidelined him for a decent chunk of the 2020 season.
On Aug. 2, the 24 year old underwent surgery on his thumb. He will likely miss the preseason, but is expected to return for the start of the season.
Throughout the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Smith split snap counts with fellow tight end Kyle Rudolph, who has since left.
Smith is listed as the starting tight end on the Vikings depth chart, but after three years in the NFL his rookie contact is almost up. The former second-round pick needs nothing short of a breakout season.
He had one at Alabama. After notching 14 catches for 128 yards and three touchdowns in nine games of his sophomore year, he blew past those numbers as a junior. Smith finished with 44 receptions for 710 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games despite the Crimson Tide having four future first-round draft picks at wide receiver.
The Vikings are known for having one of the better receiving cores in the league: Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn will each be occupied by the cornerbacks.
At the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine, Smith ran a 4.63-second 40-yard dash (tied for third among tight ends).
In his rookie season, Smith caught 76.6 percent of his targets, the ninth-most by a tight end. The following season, he caught 69.8 percent of his targets, 12th-most at his position.
In addition to hiring a new head coach, Minnesota also added a new defensive coordinator to the coaching staff, 31-year NFL coaching veteran Ed Donatell.
Last season, the Vikings finished nearly last in rushing and passing yards allowed per play and overall. However, they did finish second in sacks, fourth in third-down percentage and 10th in interceptions.
Donatell switched the Vikings defense from a 4-3 scheme to a 3-4, allowing Za'Darius Smith to join the above average linebacker group of Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks and fellow free agent pickup Jordan Hicks.
The move has Tomlinson, who inked a two-year, $22 million deal last year to help clog up the middle, sliding over to defensive end.
Tomlinson was a defensive tackle for the majority of his five years with the New York Giants, but he has the versatility to play anywhere on the line much like he did with the Crimson Tide.
However, he won't be called on to be a primary pass-rusher in the Vikings' new scheme.
Selected with the 55th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, the former Crimson Tide product has started in every game of his career.
With the Giants, Tomlinson's best seasons came in 2019 and 2020, as he had 49 tackles, including roughly eight for loss, and 3.5 sacks in each season.
Similar to Raekwon Davis, Tomlinson has spent most of his collegiate and NFL career clogging the line of scrimmage, giving his linebackers holes to blitz through.
These clogging stats don't show up on the stat sheet, but the more quarterbacks get sacked by his excellent group of linebackers, the more recognition Tomlinson will receive from Pro Bowl voters.
If Tomlinson can consistently disrupt the offensive line AND he is able to get a decent amount of sacks/tackles for loss himself, like he did in 2019 and 2020, then he could potentially be a Pro Bowl candidate.
It doesn't hurt that Tomlinson has been one of the more likable and popular players on every team he's been on.
The Vikings open up the regular against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 11.
This is the twentieth story in a team-by-team series highlighting Alabama players in the NFL.
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