A Vikings Rookie Is Putting It All Together
Ted Schwerzler
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There’s no denying that it has been a tough debut season for the Minnesota Vikings rookie draft class. First round pick Lewis Cine is out for the year, and it didn’t take long for cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. to join him. While the evaluation of prospects as a whole will take time, 3rd round pick Brian Asamoah is making his mark.
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Since training camp, it has looked like Brian Asamoah could be a guy that cracks into the rotation for Ed Donatell’s defense. Minnesota has had a consistent stream of solid linebackers for years. Eric Kendricks remains among the best at the position across the entire league, and he has been flanked by free agent acquisition Jordan Hicks this year. Gone is Anthony Barr, but he certainly was a high performer on Mike Zimmer’s defense for quite some time.
Behind the starters, the Vikings have done a good job developing usable rotation guys. Troy Dye has figured prominently in the middle at times, and there has been plenty of other bodies to step in over the past handful of years. Asamoah now looks like a guy who could step up as a strong starter, and he put himself on the map in a big way against the New York Giants on Saturday.
Yet to start a game this season, Asamoah has appeared in all 15 of the Vikings contests. Against the Indianapolis Colts last week, the youngster had his best statistical game recording eight tackles while playing a season-high 27% of the defensive snaps. That followed a 17% snap share against the Detroit Lions and was his highest since being on the field plenty in a blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Rewarded for his efforts, Asamoah was in on 39% of the snaps in a tightly contested game against the Giants. Ultimately he recorded just a single tackle in the contest, but it was his strip in coverage that led to a fumble recovery. Knocking the ball out, he quickly turned directions and grabbed the bouncing ball taking it 12 yards the opposite way.
It has been evident through his time on special teams that Asamoah has substantial speed at the linebacker position. He quickly tracks the football and has great closing abilities. We have yet to see him draw a start, and with the entrenched starters in play, that likely won’t change this year. The development from the former Oklahoma product has been evident however, and he may be among the most exciting pieces from the draft class thus far.
As the Vikings look to continue taking steps forward both this year and into the future, their continued success as a team will be largely reflective of their abilities on defense. This season Donatell’s group has bottomed out as the worst unit in the NFL for a period and righting that wrong will be a chief consideration when trying to assess how sustainable this period of competitiveness is for the purple.
It’s hard to expect Asamoah to reach his ceiling in year one, and that wouldn’t likely be a positive development anyways. As he sees more time at the NFL level, however, it’s going to be exciting watching his impact on a weekly basis grow.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.