Vikings Defense Appears Ready to Welcome Five New Starters
First off, a tip of the cap to Dustin Baker, who offered a similar piece on Vikings Territory. Where I’ll differ rests in the focus on defense and on who is being elevated.
During free agency, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made bold decisions for the Vikings defense. Edge rusher stands out since Jonathan Greenard landed a four-year deal with a whopping $76 million attached, but he’s not alone in the fight for a new job in Minnesota. Consider the full gamut of players who look like they’ve got a shot at being starters, with one notable name being an in-house youngster who is poised to breakout.
The Vikings Defense & The New Starters
Starter #1 — Jonathan Greenard
Edge Rusher
Greenard, 27, is coming off a career year. Minnesota is looking for him to replicate and build off of his 2023 rather than see it as the climactic moment in his playing days.
Last year, Greenard played in fifteen games. For his troubles, he picked up 52 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 22 QB hits, and 15 tackles for a loss. The Vikings will be hoping for more of the same, especially since they’ll lean on him for major snaps. The 2023 season involved Greenard hitting a career high with fifteen games and 632 snaps. What can he do in all seventeen games and with snaps somewhere within the 800-1,000 range?
Hopefully, Greenard’s health allows everyone to find out.
— 2024 Cap Charge: $5,740,000 —
Starter #2 — Andrew Van Ginkel
Edge Rusher
The versatile former Dolphin is the queen on Flores’ chess board. Expect him to hold off Dallas Turner to be a starter in the ’24 season.
Van Ginkel, 29, played all seventeen games last season, starting eleven while picking up 726 snaps. He was rewarded with 69 tackles, 6 sacks, 19 QB hits, 8 tackles for a loss, 8 passes defended, an interception, and a touchdown. Combined with Greenard, Van Ginkel is supposed to make opposing QBs skittish.
— 2024 Cap Charge: $3,400,000 —
Starter #3 — Jaquelin Roy
Defensive Tackle
What can I say? I’m a believer in Jaquelin Roy.
Jonathan Bullard is back and will have a large job. Jerry Tillery oozes potential and could become a menace as a pass-rusher. Even still, put me down for Roy getting the start in Week 1 beside Harrison Phillips. Recently, Alec Lewis of The Athletic insisted that Roy would get “premium chances in training camp.” And then Kevin O’Connell had this to say about his sophomore DT a few months ago: “J Roy still coming off of what I thought was a productive rookie year, real flashes of production. But we’re going to need see him kind of take that next step.”
I’m looking for Roy to fend off his competitors as he establishes himself as the DT2 in Minnesota. He is 23.
— 2024 Cap Charge: $999,943–
Starter #4: Blake Cashman
Linebacker
Ivan Pace is going to continue being leaned on to be a menace as a blitzer, an ultra-aggressive and physical option from the second level. What about Mr. Cashman?
The 28-year-old linebacker began his career with the Jets before breaking out as a Texan. PFF gave him a sizzling 82.1 grade for his efforts last season, largely due to an excellent coverage grade that came in at 16th-best among linebackers. There were 55 targets into his coverage for just 38 catches and 263 yards and a single score. The 6.9 yards-per-completion average is strong, much better than Jordan Hicks’ 8.8 from last season.
Cashman also had 106 tackles and 2.5 sacks. He needs to stay healthy, but he can play ball.
— 2024 Cap Charge: $3,186,765 —
Starter #5: Shaq Griffin
Corner
Size and physicality along the outside. That’s what Mr. Griffin is supposed to provide.
Last year was a bit of a rollercoaster for the veteran corner, splitting time with the Texans and Panthers. Add it all together, though, and he only allowed 60.5% of passes into his coverage to be completed while allowing zero touchdowns. Combined, passers had a 72.4 pass rating when targeting the corner.
He is a sneaky add since he came as part of the second wave, but the corner may be one of the more important upgrades.
— 2024 Cap Charge: $4,430,000 —
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.