Praise Is Not Universal for the Vikings 2021 Roster
Dustin Baker
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On the pecking order for NFL divisions, the NFC North is closer to the bottom of the barrel for supremacy, at least according to Jason La Canfora from CBS Sports.
The NFC West and AFC North are the creams of the crop for division strength, rounding out the bottom [in order] with the NFC North (third to last), NFC East (second to last), and AFC South (last). In 2020, the NFC East was absolutely laughable while the AFC South is currently strangle-held by the Tennessee Titans.
The NFC North could quickly get worse, too. Aaron Rodgers served as talking point #1 for the NFL world during the last month, generating speculative dialogue ad nauseam after multiple sources reported on draft day that the Packers quarterback was ready to move on from Green Bay. Should Rodgers exit the division, well, the NFC North probably falls beneath the “last place” AFC South division.
La Canfora isn’t very high on the Minnesota Vikings. He implied — as a notion that was obvious to him — that the Vikings roster was underwhelming. Here are his thoughts on the NFC North as a whole and specifically the Vikings in the final sentence:
“The Aaron Rodgers saga trumps anything else going on this division thus far in 2021. It wasn’t very good with him; without him it will be like last year’s NFC East (more on that in a minute). I don’t see the Packers as a Super Bowl threat even if the powers that be can convince Rodgers to come back for one more year — that dynamic rarely plays well in a lame-duck situation and this thing has gotten too personal to have a happy ending at this point. No one else in the division is special, and frankly the Bears and Lions will be picking in the top 10, I figure. Detroit is totally rebuilding and will push the Texans for the first overall pick, and everyone in the Bears’ building is trying to save their jobs to put off another rebuild. Again, not a winning dynamic. The Vikings will be better, but they, too, may have a QB transition on the horizon and they hit the wall on their all-in spending spree to try to win with Kirk Cousins and jacked up the cap and don’t have a stellar roster to say the least.“
Don’t have a stellar roster to say the least sounds like more of an indictment than an endorsement. In fact, that’s the kind of quip that one would expect as attributable to the 2021 Houston Texans, who host a looming question mark at QB1.
From top to bottom, the Vikings roster is rather impressive. The only section of the depth chart that is outwardly questionable is the right defensive end segment. Danielle Hunter should resume LDE duties, but the RDE efficacy is in question as Stephen Weatherly might be the starting solution. He isn’t bad. Yet, the verdict is undetermined on his RDE1 acumen.
Minnesota spent the first part of the offseason fortifying the defense — a unit that was repugnant in 2020, surrendering the fourth-most points in the league. In systemic response to that futility, Spielman signed via free agency Patrick Peterson, Dalvin Tomlinson, Xavier Woods, Nick Vigil, Mackensie Alexander, and Stephen Weatherly. Then, players like Danielle Hunter, Anthony Barr, Michael Pierce (COVID opt-out), and Eric Kendricks will return from mass absence in 2020. In this regard, the 2021 defense is completely revitalized.
The offense stayed mostly the same. Kyle Rudolph and Riley Reiff were the notable departures while head coach Mike Zimmer will hope to build on an offense that ranked third in the league via yards gained and 11th in points scored. New offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak — who took over for his father — will have plenty of tools to play around with during his rookie season. Many onlookers yearn for youthful creativity on offense — and Klint Kubiak isn’t very old. He could marry both worlds of the Zimmer-style offense and sprightly playcalling.
Best word of advice? Stay on Rodgers Watch. If he departs the NFC North, the Vikings must win the division.