90 Minnesota Vikings: Defensive Line
LBVikings
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All four positions on the defensive line are set – Griffen, Richardson, Joseph and Hunter are all entrenched veteran starters, so covering their training camp warm-up snaps won’t be that interesting. So instead, we’ll focus on those competing for rotational snaps.
If you want to read about the four starters or Brian Robison, here’s the hub post.
QUARTERBACKS
LINEBACKERS
WIDE RECEIVERS
Stephen Weatherly
Stephen Weatherly was on the fast track to be a special person for his whole life, surrounded by smart and supportive role models. Weatherly started playing baseball, but craved more contact than he could reasonably dole out to poor unsuspecting catchers. We spent the 2017 season getting to know Stephen Weatherly as a chess club/marching band/robotics nerd that also played between defensive end and linebacker in a 3-4 at Vanderbilt, which translates well into a 4-3 end. In addition to convincing his friends in the locker room to invest in Bitcoin, he served in a rotational capacity in 2017. Entering his third year, he’ll defend his hold on that role.
This season, Weatherly will likely look at more rotational spans, but his roster spot is also under heavy siege. Between new rookies and other late round draft picks, Weatherly is one of a handful of defensive ends worth keeping on the roster. There isn’t enough room for everyone, so this preseason, Weatherly will have to keep everyone else at bay. Last year, he won this competition, knocking Ifeadi Odenigbo to the practice squad, but round two could go any number of ways.
Jaleel Johnson
Last year, I wrote about Jaleel Johnson’s “dancing bear” persona and how he led the Hawkeyes to greater heights in his senior season. But in the NFL, things ground to a crawl for Jaleel. As a rookie, he was inactive for far more games than you’d hope for from someone with so much potential. When he was in the game Johnson played a rotational role, floating between 1-tech and 3-tech defensive tackle, and developing into an NFL-caliber athlete. He backed up Linval Joseph, Tom Johnson and rotated with Shamar Stephen, two of whom have now left via free agency.
Johnson won’t have much of a chance at a starting job with Sheldon Richardson and Linval Joseph in front of him, but with the removal of two rotational pieces, Johnson has space to thrive. Ideally, he would be able to focus on rotating at 3-technique where he’s more at home, but that depends more on what happens with Jalyn Holmes and David Parry. The Vikings should be open to spelling Joseph and Richardson, should Jaleel Johnson prove he can take on a greater role this August – and he seems to be the only backup on the roster that can play both defensive tackle positions.
Tashawn Bower
Bower started 2017 at a disadvantage. Even though he was a quick, high upside LSU defensive end, he had fallen out of the draft due to strength and weight concerns. Then, Bower erupted during the 2017 preseason, earning a roster spot over Ifeadi Odenigbo, who had been drafted in the same class. Bower spent most of 2017 on the inactive list, only taking 15 in-game snaps all season. But a season on the roster, even an uneventful one, gives him a vital degree of clout.
In 2018, Bower will undoubtedly be looking to get into game action more often. But in a crowded defensive end room, he’ll have to once again earn his roster spot, including a round two against Odenigbo. The returns of a good preseason will diminish quickly if he doesn’t continue where he left off last August. And if he does hang on to his roster spot, he’ll need to supersede Weatherly’s and Brian Robison’s limited role to get on the field.
Ifeadi Odenigbo
Ifeadi’s parents immigrated from Nigeria to provide a better life for their children, but maybe not for the two to break their bodies playing football. But after proving his grades, and proving he could handle the punishment, Ifeadi Odenigbo picked up football and never looked back. He excelled at Northwestern, battling annually with his brother Tito at Iowa. From Northwestern, he was drafted in the 7th round as an athletic upside defensive lineman, but was unseated by Tashawn Bower for a roster spot. After spending the year on the practice squad, he was invited back to try out again in 2018.
Ifeadi Odenigbo will be given a second chance to make the roster. After a year of practice squad development, it’s not out of the question that he can out-muscle Tashawn Bower and take back his rightful place on the 53-man roster. But he’ll need to prove that he’s grown between last August and now, as well as fending off new challengers at the position.
David Parry
David Parry wasn’t very highly sought after high school in Iowa, with only two offers from D1 schools. Thankfully, one of those was Stanford, allowing him to be closer to his Bay Area family. But even there, he had to walk on to earn a scholarship and playing time. Of course, he did just that. From there he broke out, getting drafted by Indianapolis in 2015 and starting there for his first two years – a big leap from his 5th round expectations. But in the ensuing offseason, David Parry was arrested for drunkenly stealing a golf cart and assaulting its driver. The Colts released him, and the Saints picked him up then kept him on the practice squad, where he only played one game before an ankle injury ended his season.
On the Vikings, Parry’s up-and-down career is hanging by a thread. After being cut by two teams in less than two years, as well as an off-field issue, his options could be thin if he doesn’t make the team. But as an experienced starter in the prime of his career, he has a very good chance to do just that. Parry also plays nose tackle, where he’ll only be in direct competition with Jaleel Johnson. But even Johnson is a better fit at 3-tech, making it that much easier for the Vikings to justify that roster spot. So Parry may have lucked out, as he faces almost no competition for his role as a rotational run-stuffing nose tackle to back up Linval Joseph. He just needs to prove to the Vikings that they want one.
Jalyn Holmes
Many times, players will commit to smaller schools despite bigger offers in order to stay closer to home. Jalyn Holmes could have made that decision when touring Chapel Hill at UNC, near his home state of Virginia, in 2014. Instead, he opted for a blue-chip program in Ohio State. But Holmes’ decision may have backfired, in a rare twist. For most of Jalyn’s college career, he was stuck behind the likes of Joey Bosa, Nick Bosa, Sam Hubbard, and more elite superstars. That’s no indictment of Holmes himself, but it robbed him of a chance to truly prove himself, and starved him of valuable development time. This caused him to fall all the way to day 3 of the draft, where the Vikings took him, and possibly intend to move him to the inside.
In his rookie year, Holmes may have to contend with a position switch, or a rotational role as a 3rd down pass rusher. This hybrid inside-outside role puts him squarely in competition with Brian Robison, and possibly makes him Robison’s heir apparent. But thanks to Holmes’ relative lack of snaps in college, he’ll be raw, and will need to polish up in camp before he seriously contends for significant playing time. For Holmes, the brightest days in purple may be a ways ahead of him. A broken hand suffered in minicamp offers yet another obstacle, but he should be ready close to the beginning of camp.
Ade Aruna
Sometimes a player will have to make a decision to go to college far away from their family to pursue their dreams. For Ade Aruna, he had to move a bit further – from Nigeria to the United States at the ripe age of 16 to pursue what used to be a basketball dream. He hoped to make it big, and support his family in a better land. Eventually, he realized his natural ability was as a 5-tech pass rusher, and he excelled at Tulane for 3 years. But Tulane switched to a 3-4, leaving him in purgatory. That rough senior year caused him to fall to the 7th round of the draft. After training with Vikings legend Keith Millard, Aruna returns to his 4-3 comfort zone, and even joins fellow Nigerian Ifeadi Odenigbo.
Aruna joins a bit of a crowd of suitors for the final defensive end spot (or two) between Odenigbo, Weatherly, and Bower. He’ll have to regain his footing in a more comfortable scheme to overtake them, but he has the athleticism to overcome his small size. But unlike some of the more tenured roster bubble players, Aruna’s youth and athletic upside make him a good candidate for the practice squad.
Jonathyn Wynn
At the beginning of his Vanderbilt career, Wynn played linebacker, but wasn’t nearly at home there. Thankfully, another recruit later filled in for him at outside linebacker, allowing him to return to defensive end where he’s played his whole career. From there, he started for most of his final two years, but a late season injury disrupted his momentum heading into the draft process. He went undrafted, and signed with the Vikings as a defensive end.
Wynn will look to break into an otherwise crowded group of edge rushers. Stranger things have happened, but for an undrafted free agent to usurp multiple draft picks and the guy who accomplished that last year in Tashawn Bower would be a huge upset. More likely, Wynn is looking to make it onto the practice squad, or put out good enough preseason tape to get a look from other, less crowded teams.
Curtis Cothran
Curtis Cothran grew up in Newton, Pennsylvania and was fortunate enough to be recruited to Penn State. With the Nittany Lions, Cothran played hybrid defensive tackle/end, but wasn’t projected to be a high draft pick, if at all. Cothran slimmed down heading into his pro day and tried to woo teams with his athleticism. This almost worked, flirting a lot with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Vikings swooped in with a higher offer and guaranteed that Cothran’s first NFL football would be the furthest he’s ever played from home. If football doesn’t work out, he has a criminology degree, and is working on a second degree in media studies.
Like Wynn and the other deep-roster defensive ends, Cothran will face an uphill battle to break through the roster barrier. But as a practice squad candidate, his new, thinner frame and diverse experience could give him a leg up against someone smaller like Jonathan Wynn. And like every undrafted free agent in roster limbo, there’s always a chance another team sees his preseason tape and has more space than the Vikings. In the best case scenario, he backs up Jalyn Holmes as a hybrid end/tackle, but even then, it’d be on the practice squad as he tries to develop.
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