Did the Vikings change our minds during training camp?
EAGAN — There are some training camps where you walk out with a feeling like you know what’s on the way — good or bad. Two training camps in recent years, for example, changed minds about the Minnesota Vikings and what was to come during the regular season.
In 2017, the Vikings were in Mankato for the final time and there was a little bit more buzz to the whole thing. Over the few weeks that they practiced in front of purple faithful, a few things bubbled up that played well in their favor. At the top of that list was Sam Bradford establishing himself as the leader of the club. In 2016 he joined the Vikings just days before the start of the season and never really had a chance to make the team his own. But in camp he flourished day after day, flashing the arm talent that once made him a No. 1 overall pick but also the personality that he hadn’t been as comfortable showing before.
One day Bradford led a touchdown drive in a two-minute drill and jumped on head coach Mike Zimmer in his excitement. Zimmer and Bradford had become close during the offseason, tossing around different X’s and O’s ideas over text while Zimmer was recovering from an eye procedure.
The chemistry between Bradford and his two receivers, Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, was increasing by the day. He was even connecting so well with Jarius Wright that he spent five minutes at the podium raving about his third option.
The biggest thing is that Bradford was beating the Vikings defense. It was apparent that few teams were actually going to beat them on Sundays. With Xavier Rhodes, Everson Griffen, Danielle Hunter, Linval Joseph, Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr healthy and at their physical peaks, they were stacked and healthy.
It was also clear that Dalvin Cook was going to be a star and Pat Elflein could be the center they were missing. Both had terrific camps.
The 2017 camp didn’t have much drama. There was one scuffle between Laquon Treadwell and Antoine Exum but nothing else memorable. When they wrapped up things from Mankato, the overall feeling about the team was better than when they arrived. That isn’t re-writing history to fit the 13-3 record.
The following year couldn’t have been more opposite. Right before the Vikings were set to open camp offensive line coach Tony Sparano passed away. It sent a shockwave through the team and everyone began their first camp at TCO Performance Center with heavy hearts.
In minicamp guard Nick Easton was lost to back surgery and Elflein hadn’t recovered from a severe ankle injury suffered in the NFC Championship game. The offensive line was in shambles and something was up between Zimmer and new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo. The offense sputtered daily and tensions grew. Every national outlet sent reporters to Eagan asking whether it was “Super Bowl or bust” with Kirk Cousins in command.
The Vikings eventually cut Terence Newman and Brian Robison, which ultimately took a toll on the locker room and their depth.
In ‘18 the pressure and expectations seemed to be hanging over everyone’s head. The results of that season reflected camp.
Over the last three years, the Vikings have had plenty of madness, from Diggs clearly being unhappy to COVID to Zimmer vs. Cousins over vaccination status and the constant hot seat discussion. It never felt comfortable.
This year new head coach Kevin O’Connell has implemented some things we haven’t seen before. No signs of the first-team offense in preseason games outside of two drives with the offensive linemen in against the Raiders. No yelling when there are mistakes. We’re at a zero count of press conferences where the head coach calls out a player or position group that he wants to see get it in gear.
But as the portion of practices open to fans comes to an end at TCO Performance Center and the team begins thinking about the Green Bay Packers and Week 1, have we learned enough to make a judgement about where this train is headed?
In a few ways, yes. One key point that cannot be emphasized enough is that O’Connell hasn’t done anything crazy (that we know of). You might want to award zero points to a head coach for not being insane but in many instances around the NFL, say Urban Meyer for example, the signs were there right from the start that it wasn’t going to work. No such signs exist with O’Connell.
Players appear to be pleased with the improvements in handling their health, both in modernizing the approach and putting a great deal of thought into the right ways to keep them fresh for an entire 17-game season. Subsequently there haven’t been any major injuries that would change our opinion of the club, assuming Irv Smith Jr. is indeed on track to return right at the beginning of the season.
As far as players go, Justin Jefferson looks like an even better version of himself. Adam Thielen doesn’t seem like his 30s are slowing him down. The offensive line seems improved. And Cousins has had his good days and his moments where he’s stumbled in learning the new offense, which is to be expected. We were never going to have a great idea of how the 2022 Vikings offense would look based on a handful of practices anyway but it hasn’t been a calamity when the starters are in.
The same questions still exist. Will Cousins be different with more support? There hasn’t been a reasonable way to figure that out based on practice. Is the secondary going to hold up? Are the rookies going to contribute? Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth Jr. are still with the twos. Is there anybody who can play beyond the starting defensive line? Not unless you really believe in the TY McGill story.
Draft Kings has the Vikings’ over/under at nine wins but it’s juiced toward the under. At one point before they took the practice field for camp it was 8.5. That doesn’t seem like a major sea change.
What the Vikings needed was to end camp without doing anything that would make that number drop or cause local fans to slam the under because of an injury or crazy coach decision or Cousins-related conflict. Instead the QB is yelling “you [bleeping] like that,” which comes across as him being fairly comfortable — and possibly in need of a new saying.
The only better case scenario would have been if all the rookies became instant stars and the offense had no bumps in the road but that wasn’t very realistic.
We also were given less information than ever to work with because of the lack of playing time for the starters in preseason. Last year it was a pretty obvious hint when Zimmer made the starters play in the third week that he didn’t feel particularly confident in where they stood.
There are still a few weeks to go and plenty of time for the Vikings to have a Vikingsy thing happen but right now we will stand in wait-and-see mode. Is the new offense going to change their course? Is the O-line going to be its best in years? Can Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter drive a vastly improved defense? The fact that all of those things haven’t been taken off the table is all the Vikings could have asked for at the end of camp.
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