The Minnesota Vikings had their first training camp practice open to the public today, which brought more visibility to the proceedings, at least for the day, from fans posting videos that media aren’t allowed to do (and fans aren’t supposed to do either). But it looks like the Vikings are enforcing the no video rule this year so that may curtail future videos of training camp. Teams across the league have been working for several years to prevent photos and videos of training camp from being disseminated
to opponents via the public for competitive purposes and the Vikings appear to be enforcing that policy as a condition for fans attending training camp.
Be that as it may, there are a few storylines worth mentioning in today’s training camp notes.
Quarterback Competition
It was a day where Kyler Murray worked through some mishaps. There were a couple of bad exchanges with Blake Brandel that led to two fumbles. There was a miscommunication with a receiver on a pass play and a couple interceptions. But he also had the most impressive passes of the day as well. He also got most of the first team reps.
McCarthy didn’t have either the lows or the highs that Murray had. Mostly a steady diet of shorter passes, which reminds me a lot of what his training camp looked like last year.
And from the StarTribune:
J.J. McCarthy began with the first-team offense in an early 11-on-11 period and closed with them in a late 11-on-11 period. But most of the first-team snaps in between those reps went to Kyler Murray. Some of those were 1s-vs.-1s, others were 1s-vs.-2s. Carson Wentz got to run with the third-team offense a few times, which we didn’t see yesterday. As for how the QBs did, it was again a mix, though it felt like we saw a few more mistakes than on Day 1. Murray had back-to-back near interceptions in a full-field 11-on-11 period near the end of practice, one targeting Justin Jefferson and the other targeting Tai Felton. There were again drops by receivers, and Blake Cashman batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage. But there were also a few flashier plays than Day 1, too, like a deep pass from Murray to Dontae Fleming.
If two days of training camp can make a trend, I’d say the trend is that Murray is getting familiarized with the offense and receivers and making mistakes along the way, while McCarthy seems to be playing it safe with shorter, more high percentage passing. Whether McCarthy is missing open receivers further down the field or not has not been reported. Whether or not Murray getting significantly more reps than McCarthy continues or not remains to be seen. It does makes sense for Murray to get more reps in the sense that he needs more reps being new to the scheme and personnel whereas this is McCarthy’s third training camp working with the same.
It would be interesting to know on what basis Kevin O’Connell will divvy out the reps going forward. Are more reps earned by accomplishing tasks on a personal ‘to-do’ list (which might be different for each quarterback) or will they be more need based.
But ultimately, I don’t see the quarterback competition being decided by which quarterback has the higher passing rating in training camp. So to some degree a close accounting of passing stats for each quarterback may be focusing on the wrong thing.
Instead, I suspect the competition will be decided by which quarterback grows into being able to run the full offense, from getting the plays called on time, to getting to the right play at the line of scrimmage, to being able to aggressively take what the defense gives him. For Kyler Murray, that means mostly continuing to gain familiarity and comfort with the offense and personnel and eliminating mistakes along the way. For J.J. McCarthy, that means mostly growing his skillset to be better able to aggressively take what the defense gives him.
In a short competition, whether it lasts for a week or a month from now, that favors the more experienced Murray, who should be able to slowly become more versed in the scheme and in tune with receivers. It may be more difficult for McCarthy, who has said he has improved dramatically from last season, to show more touch, layering ability, and accuracy with his throws while also being able to process faster.
But over the next year, McCarthy may be able to get there. In the meantime, he needs to get out of his comfort zone and challenge himself and test his limits. That means trusting what he sees and attempting more difficult throws when available. That probably means making more mistakes too, but that is what training camp is for.
For Murray, moving to a new team and scheme forces him out of his comfort zone and so the challenge for him is to grow into the new system and slowly begin to master it. That may also lead to working on some aspect(s) of how he approaches the game as well. A change of scenery can also have the benefit of a better team around him and a more positive atmosphere and a chance to change some narratives about him.
So, at the end of the day, the competition may be decided not by who did the best from beginning to end, but by who progressed/improved the most with their to-do list. I would imagine that over the next week to ten days the coaching staff will have a good idea about the rate of progress for each quarterback and may be ready to make a decision on who is the starter.
Update on Other Position Battles
There aren’t many battles for starting positions on the Vikings’ roster at the moment, except maybe quarterback, but maybe some could emerge over the course of training camp. And of course there are battles further down the depth chart at just about every position group. Let’s take a look into those.
Inside Linebacker
The acquisition of Jamal Adams was a bit of a surprise and the initial response for many observers was that he may be more of a long shot to make the roster. But on the second day of training camp, he was mixing in with the first-team defense at inside linebacker- where he played last season. Adams hasn’t been a full-time player for a few years now since he injured his quad tendon, which took over two years to fully recover from according to Adams. And he appears to have signed for the veteran minimum (his contract details haven’t been released but he alluded to that in his press conference yesterday). But he played about 40% of the defensive snaps with the Raiders last season and graded higher than any of the starting linebackers for the Vikings, according to PFF. Neither of these things guarantee him a starting spot or even a roster spot, but he appears to be getting every chance to at least make the roster.
So how does that affect the linebacker pecking order? A healthy Blake Cashman is still LB1 in every scenario, and it’s difficult to imagine Eric Wilson falling below LB2, but best-case scenario for Adams is that he becomes something of a LB2a, where he takes some reps from Wilson and also replaces Josh Metellus’ snaps at linebacker last season. Most look at Adams as primarily a good pass rusher, but relative to Cashman and Wilson (and Pace), Adams’ greatest value may be in coverage. Linebacker coverage was a weak link last season for the Vikings as even Cashman struggled more in coverage. And overall last season, Eric Wilson, Josh Metellus, and Ivan Pace Jr. were three of the four worst defenders still on the team in coverage according to PFF. All graded significantly below average. Adams graded above average in coverage and above average overall last season.
Second round pick Jake Golday is a roster lock, so the addition of Adams appears to make Ivan Pace Jr.’s path to a roster spot even more uphill. However, Special Teams Coordinator Matt Daniels had some love for Pace in today’s press conference, saying he, along with Tavierre Thomas, are two players he’s looking to provide some leadership on special teams after the loss of C.J. Ham to retirement. It was curious that Eric Wilson was not mentioned as a leader on special teams by Daniels, as he proved to be a leader from the get-go on special teams last season. Pace had a rather high-profile mistake on special teams last season when he got out of his lane late in the second Bears game, allowing a big return that was key for the Bears coming back to win that game and proved to be the difference between the Vikings or Bears winning the division. Pace also led the team in penalties on special teams last season. But perhaps with Wilson having emerged as LB2 last year as well, his role on special teams will be reduced this year. We’ll see.
The other variable here is what Golday’s role will be. During the offseason program he said he was focused on learning just the inside linebacker spot. But yesterday he said he’s now learning multiple spots, once again putting the idea of him being a backup Van Ginkel on the table. Or will Eric Wilson be the backup Van Ginkel as he was last year when Van Ginkel was injured?
So, there is a lot of moving parts here and perhaps even a scenario where the Vikings keep five linebackers on the roster. We’ll have to wait and see how it unfolds.
Interior Defensive Line
Caleb Banks is healthy and full-go in training camp and according to most reports has mixed in with the first-team defense, which includes Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake-Rodriguez. I haven’t seen any reports that Domonique Orange has mixed in with the first team yet. One concerning thing to me about Big Citrus after watching his tape last season at Iowa State is his conditioning. He looked gassed most of the time he was on the field. And Darren Wolfson mentioned on Purple Daily today that at the end of the first training camp practice, Orange looked completely gassed- so much so that he politely declined Wolfson’s interview request and headed straight indoors. That’s just an anecdotal thing, but it adds to my concern about his conditioning and how big a role he’ll have this season. I mean he’s already gassed and pads haven’t even come on yet? It’s still early and things can change, but something to watch.
The other news along the interior defensive line is that Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins is taking snaps as a defensive end and standing as an outside linebacker. I could see the Vikings using him against heavy offensive personnel and/or on running downs on occasion to give Andrew Van Ginkel a few snaps off.
Edge Rusher
Many have been expecting the Vikings to add an edge rusher sometime soon, and maybe they will, but with Ingram-Dawkins taking some snaps as an edge rusher and perhaps Jake Golday or Eric Wilson being able to take reps there, perhaps the Vikings are trying to evaluate backup options inhouse first. The Vikings also have Bo Richter, Chaz Chambliss, and Tyler Batty on the edge rusher depth chart, along with rookies Cam’Ron Stewart and Arden Walker.
Safety
With Harrison Smith staying retired to this point, it looks like Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson begin training camp as the starters at safety. But Jay Ward and third-round pick Jakobe Thomas are mixing in with the first team as well, so there is definitely a competition here. I’m not saying he won’t make the roster, at least not yet, but I can’t get over the impression that Josh Metellus is closer to a bubble player than most everyone thinks. I went over this a bit in my defensive roster evaluation, but last season Metellus looked worse than either Theo Jackson or Jay Ward. And he graded that way too according to PFF. And if Jakobe Thomas comes on, Metellus could be fourth on the depth chart, at least in fact if not on paper. The signing of Jamal Adams has a bit of an impact here as Adams (who used to be a safety) could take Metellus’ snaps at linebacker.
Metellus’ contract is such that it’s highly unlikely he’ll be on the roster next year without a substantial contract restructure- and a much better season than last year- as a $14 million cap hit. He’s only a $6 million hit this year, but he could be traded with only a $2 million dead cap hit. $5.435 million if he is released. He’ll incur a $6 million dead cap hit next year if he’s cut or traded this year or next year.
Maybe I’m making too much of this, Metellus is a leader and a captain (so was Harrison Phillips), but I can see a scenario where the Vikings part ways with Metellus sooner rather than later.
Offensive Line
The starting offensive line is set and fully healthy (knock on wood) and it looks like the initial second team offensive line is Ryan Van Demark, Joe Huber, Michael Jurgens, Henry Byrd, and Caleb Tiernan, based on training camp so far. Byrd essentially replaces Blake Brandel as an interior backup from last year while Tiernan replaces Walter Rouse. I wouldn’t rule out Rouse just yet, however, if he is allowed to compete at right guard with Byrd. He may not win that competition, but he probably has a better chance to make the roster as a backup right guard than right tackle after last season when the Vikings opted to go with Blake Brandel at right tackle (which he hadn’t played in a regular season game before) rather than Rouse when Brian O’Neill was injured.
It will also be interesting to see if there is a competition for backup center with Jurgens. Byrd also has been getting some work at center according to Wes Phillips, and seventh-round pick Gavin Gerhardt could challenge Jurgens as well. I don’t expect as much competition for the other backup spots, but we’ll see.
Tight End
Gavin Bartholomew has been getting some buzz in training camp so far and did a bit during the offseason program too. There is definitely a scenario where he beats out Ben Yurosek for the third tight-end spot, particularly if Max Bredeson makes the roster as a blocking fullback/H-back. Bartholomew is more of a receiving tight end, so if he made the roster that would essentially give the Vikings two receiving tight ends and two blocking tight ends in Josh Oliver and Bredeson.
Punter
Veteran former All-Pro Johnny Hekker is the favorite but is competing against rookie Brett Thorson. Matt Daniels said one of the things he likes about Hekker is how he is being a mentor to Thorson, which I wonder if that may be at least part of the reason he was signed. Hekker was the best punter in the league in his prime, but that was ten years ago. Hekker is 36 and has gone from Carolina to Tennessee to Minnesota the last three years as his production has declined. He signed for the league minimum on a one-year deal.
I would not be surprised if Thorson emerges as the better punter in training camp, but the competition may swing on whether Thorson can be automatic as a holder, which he didn’t do in college. Hekker’s role, who has been a good holder over his career, may be to help train Thorson as a holder as well. We’ll see if Thorson can make it as a holder, but I suspect the Vikings would prefer to have the younger Thorson emerge as the winner.
Some OL and Run Game Buzz
Brian O’Neill mentioned during his press conference yesterday was that “the intensity and urgency in the building has been turned up to a level I haven’t seen in a few years. Not in terms of goals but standards. One of the things (OL coach) Keith (Carter) said yesterday was that standards really don’t care about feelings. When you’re trying to go do something, you’ve got to rely on standards every day, and the choices you make to go be the best you can.”
There is a buzz about the offensive line group that started during the offseason program and how intense they were practicing. That seems to be carrying forward into training camp, particularly as it relates to the run game. We haven’t really seen anything yet, but there is definitely a bit of a changed atmosphere and it will be interesting to see if that materializes more once the pads come on.
The Vikings didn’t extend offensive line coach Chris Kuper after last season, opting to promote assistant offensive line coach Keith Carter instead. Carter, along with new assistant head coach Frank Smith who is also the de facto run game coordinator, seem to be at the heart of the buzz about the offensive line and run game.
That’s it for now.
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