What Does Marcus Davenport See? Aggression, Attacking, and (Hopefully) a Super Bowl
K. Joudry
|
In an ideal world, Marcus Davenport surpasses what Za’Darius Smith brought to the table in 2022. The former Saint doesn’t lack for abilities. Instead, he has sometimes struggled to stay on the field and hasn’t always converted his strong play into game-changing sacks.
The edge rusher spoke with Tom Pelissero of NFL Network earlier in the week, revealing his motivation for his new piercings, what he sees within the Brian Flores defense, and what the hope is for the 2022 season.
Marcus Davenport and the Vikings’ Revamped Defense
Begin by checking out what the pass rusher had to say. Good to get a sense of his personality and what he’s seeing very early in his Vikings career:
To a certain extent, proclaiming one’s desire for a Super Bowl is about as meaningless as meaningless gets. The defender is operating in June, months away from when the actual game will take place. Minnesota has a pile of work to do to even be in contention, let alone get there (and win).
Even still, a focus on the Super Bowl is what you want to see. A political answer? Sure, and yet it’s still far superior to a singular focus on just his own personal achievements (even if that is significant; after all, his personal success will help with the team’s success).
Dennis Rodman and piercings inspiration aside, the other component of his answer that will cause a lot of excitement is his description of Brian Flores’ approach.
“Aggression. From here, everything I’ve gotten from just looking at the team,” Davenport explains, “in B-Flo’s system is just attack. And putting yourself in the best positions to attack.” Pelissero asks about Hunter’s status, but Davenport notes that his focus is on the field and the players currently present.
Make no mistake: a Davenport-Hunter partnership is the goal. Just a single strong pass rusher isn’t enough in today’s NFL. Instead, put at least a pair on the field, but ideally more.
Moreover, he notes being able to shed some weight. Hopefully, that translates to staying on the field with greater consistency. Last year’s defense allowed an average of 25.1 points against per game and they had a ho-him total of 38 sacks. Davenport will be playing a major role in getting the point average closer to 20 and the sack total closer to 50.
Minnesota’s first game of the season takes place against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
