Vikings will rely greatly on the development of Irv Smith Jr. and Co.

Three players talked at TCO Performance Center on Tuesday -- each unproven, each needed for success in 2022.

Author:
Matthew Coller of Purple Insider
Publish date:
Apr 20, 2022 8:32 AM EDT

Three players talked at TCO Performance Center on Tuesday -- each unproven, each needed for success in 2022.

EAGAN — On Tuesday, three Minnesota Vikings players that have something in common spoke at the lectern inside TCO Performance Center. Irv Smith Jr., Cam Bynum and Christian Darrisaw have each given the Vikings plenty of reason to believe they can play significant roles — if not become stars — but haven’t had big enough sample sizes yet to prove it. And the Vikings need them to prove it.

During training camp last year, Smith Jr. appeared to be on the verge of a breakout season after spending his first two years as TE2 behind Kyle Rudolph. But during the final preseason game of the year, he felt a tweak in his knee. An MRI revealed that he would need season-ending surgery, delaying the team’s chance to find out whether he could ascend from a nice chess piece to a true game breaker.

As Smith Jr. continues to recover, he isn’t participating in the physical side of the team’s offseason workouts and likely won’t be a full-go until training camp.

“We’ll make sure that we’ve got a great plan for Irv all the way through this entire nine-week program that just puts him in a great position to have a great training camp,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “That’s what I’ve challenged him to do, is stressing him above the neck – making sure he’s learning the system so he’s gonna know what to do, where to line up and then when we start getting those full-speed reps for him will be great. And then on to the competitive reps when training camp comes around.”

Over his two seasons as a roving receiver/tight end, Smith Jr. was a very effective weapon for quarterback Kirk Cousins. He was targeted 87 times and caught 66 passes between 2019 and 2020 and Cousins posted a 124.5 quarterback rating when targeting the former Alabama tight end.

That was in Stefanski/Kubiak offenses, which are historically friendly to tight ends. While O’Connell’s system is expected to offer plenty of changes, the Vikings’ new head coach said that players with Smith Jr.’s unique skillset at his position transcend systems.

“As far as the verbiage and the terms, all of that will be new,” O’Connell said. “But in a lot of ways, when a guy does things well on a football field, you can translate it to any system, whether it’s being a vertical threat down the field, having a role in the run game. All the different ways we marry the run and the pass, I think Irv has the perfect skillset to play a big role in that. Going back and watching him, I know he was feeling really, really good before the injury last year.”

Adapting to a different offense shouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge for Smith Jr., who has been asked to do a lot of different things in his short football career. He switched offensive coordinators twice in his first two NFL seasons and was asked to line up as a slot receiver on 30% of his snaps and out wide on 13% (per PFF).

“When I was at Alabama, we had I think four different offensive coordinators in the three years I was there,” Smith Jr. said. “So having to learn an offense, total new structure, different schemes somewhere, two tight end heavy offenses, some were one. Some were spread out a lot. So it’s just finding my balance. I’m confident in my abilities. I know my coaches are as well, the players, so anywhere I can fit in and make plays.”

If the Vikings want to grow from where they were offensively last season, they will need Smith Jr. to make plays right away. His replacement Tyler Conklin ranked as PFF’s 14th best receiving tight end, catching 61 passes for 593 yards and three touchdowns. Exceeding those numbers will take Smith Jr. having a pretty good year — and staying healthy. The next man up behind him is currently Johnny Mundt, who has 10 career catches.

Smith Jr. paused to smile several times throughout his comments on Tuesday. He said that he feels like what didn’t break him will make him stronger going into this year.

“Mentally, I was always strong after like before, but coming out of this, it’s made me even stronger,” Smith Jr. said. “I’m excited, just to be back in the building, get back on the field, do what I love and be with my team, they’ve been super supportive of me, and this whole organization, everybody, has been very supportive. So it’s going to be a very fun season, very lit, and it’s going to be cool.”

Darrisaw’s health and development will be vital

The success of the Vikings’ offense also hinges on left tackle Christian Darrisaw, a 2021 first-round pick, meeting expectations in Year 2. As a rookie, he started last season inactive due to an injury that required surgery. When he got on the field, the Virginia Tech standout showed flashes of his raw physical ability but also allowed five sacks and graded 39th of 57 in pass blocking by PFF.

“It was definitely rough times and good times,” Darrisaw said. “Just coming into this offseason fully healthy, it's been great. Learning from guys like Brian O'Neill, Jesse Davis, just taking things from them every day and trying to apply it to my game and get better from last year.”

Darrisaw’s rough stretch came mid-season, when he gave up nine QB pressures in a two-week span against Los Angeles and Green Bay and then got hurt against San Francisco in Week 12 and didn’t return until Week 15. But two of his final three games graded above 80 by PFF.

There may not be such a thing as carrying over momentum from season to season but players often take their biggest jump from Year 1 to Year 2. Darrisaw gets an even larger potential boost because he was stunted from the start by injuries last year.

“It's been amazing finally being healthy from the end of the season until now,” Darrisaw said.

As the Vikings showed in 2021, there isn’t much room for error when it comes to injuries on the offensive line. Long time swing tackle Rashod Hill is not returning to the team, moving Oli Udoh into that position. When Udoh was asked to fill in at left tackle for Darrisaw, he graded 40.3 and 28.7 in pass blocking — well, well below average. Darrisaw’s health and development will be vital.

Cam Bynum says he's ready

On the defensive side, the Vikings now have a lot of experienced players in key positions with Za’Darius Smith, Jordan Hicks, Harrison Phillips and Patrick Peterson signed. But the youngster projected to start alongside All-Pro Harrison Smith is second-year safety Cam Bynum, who started two games in Smith’s absence last year and played well despite having made a position switch from corner as a rookie.

“I knew it was going to be a tough learning curve,” Bynum said. “It was going to take reps, lot of frustration through the process knowing that it’s not going to be perfect from day one. Me being at corner for so long, it felt like I had things figured out, but now going to have to master a whole new craft. Now it’s like, OK, sit back and go through these mistakes, mistakes are good. Now just don’t make the same ones over and over.”

Prior to the season Mike Zimmer called Bynum “brilliant” and his teammates praised the way he adapted to safety. This year he’ll be asked to adjust again, only to Ed Donatell’s defense. Bynum explained that there could be more opportunities to create turnovers for safeties in the new defense.

“It might be more visual on the quarterback, where you don’t have to carry a guy so far across the field, because the backside safety might be able to see him coming and be able to pick it up, so now I can rob a different route,” Bynum explained.

In 2021, the Vikings received quality play from veteran Xavier Woods, who ranked 32nd of 64 safeties by PFF. As they attempt to make big gains on defense this year, they’ll need Bynum to repeat or better Woods’ showing. Bynum said he’s ready.

“I prepared as if I was the starter all [last] year,” he said. “Now that I’ve had a chance to be that, my preparation isn’t going to slip. It’s going to go even higher now.”

The Vikings will need all of their unproven/budding players to go even higher now because they haven’t brought in any backups at tight end, tackle or safety who could handle the roles if these developing starters falter.