Vikings Rookie Minicamp Notes: Jordan Addison Looks Sharp in First NFL Practice
The Vikings' 2023 draft class took the practice field for the first time on Friday afternoon for day one of rookie minicamp. They were joined by the team's 15-player undrafted free agent class, 16 tryout players, and a handful of others, bringing the total to 42 participants. You can find the full list here.
It was an overcast, windy day at TCO Performance Center. The roughly 90-minute session consistent mostly of individual drills within each position group, but there was a bit of 7-on-7 action mixed in. At the end, special teams coordinator Matt Daniels led a series of drills, which is notable because any undrafted or tryout player hoping to make the cut will need to shine in the third phase of the game.
"Really excited to get this group of players out here," head coach Kevin O'Connell said afterwards. "There's a lot of intriguing tryout guys that want to be out here competing to try to earn a spot on our football team, excited about our draft class, and what I think was a really good college free agent signing class as well."
The group will be back in action on Saturday. O'Connell said he doesn't want to put too much weight on what a player does in these two days of practice, but it's an opportunity for anyone to step up and show what they can do.
Here are a few observations from Friday's practice.
First-round pick Jordan Addison looked as advertised. He's sharp in and out of his breaks while running routes, with little wasted movement as he changes direction. And although he did have one drop on a low pass in 7-on-7, his hands looked good as well.
"Jordan's been meeting over Zoom a little bit since we drafted him, obviously within the confines of the rules," O'Connell said. "You can tell he's a little bit ahead of a lot of the guys out on the field today, where he's lining up, understanding exactly what that play means for what routes he has and how to go adjust once the pictures changes when that ball's snapped. I thought Jordan had a really good day and just looks and feels the part, which is exactly what I expected out of him."
Jaren Hall, the fifth-round pick out of BYU, got most of the reps at quarterback on Friday, with tryout player Logan Nelson from D-II University of Mary the only other QB at practice. Hall's mechanics looked crisp and he mostly delivered good balls on short passes, but he did have one pass sail on him in sevens and another that should've been picked by fourth-rounder Jay Ward, who dropped it.
Two players who stood out a bit in sevens were Minnesota-Duluth wide receiver Armani Carmickle (tryout player) and Georgia Southern cornerback NaJee Thompson (UDFA). Carmickle ran good routes and made a few catches, while Thompson closed quickly on a curl route by Addison and knocked the pass out of the first-rounder's hands.
There wasn't much to evaluate from any of the offensive or defensive linemen, linebackers, or specialists, but O'Connell spoke highly of marquee UDFA signings Ivan Pace Jr. and Andre Carter II after practice.
Seventh-round pick DeWayne McBride, the running back from UAB, wasn't participating as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
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