4 Key Questions Regarding the Minnesota Vikings in 2024
The 2024 NFL preseason has come to a close, and as rosters are trimmed down and game plans are installed in preparation for opening day, questions surround each team as they prepare for the regular season.
The Minnesota Vikings aren’t any different in this regard, as they look to answer many questions following a lackluster 2023 season. Questions like “Who will be the Vikings’ starting quarterback?” have already been answered. However, several questions about the 2024 Minnesota Vikings team still have yet to be answered.
How Will the Cornerback Depth Hold Up?
The Vikings’ defense improved when Brian Flores took the helm as the team’s Defensive Coordinator in 2023. However, they still struggled against the pass. The Vikings gave up the 13th-most passing yards in the NFL in 2023, with opposing quarterbacks completing approximately 70% of their passes against the unit. This efficiency by opposing quarterbacks was mostly due to the Vikings’ struggles at cornerback, which plagued them throughout the 2023 season.
According to Pro Football Focus and their grading scale, last season’s starters Akayleb Evans and Byron Murphy Jr. struggled, grading out at a slightly below-average 55 and 58 on the season, respectively. Newly signed Shaq Griffin and Stephon Gilmore will likely help the top end of the room a lot in 2024, but behind them and Murphy Jr., questions remain entering the regular season.
Evans’ up-and-down play leaves him as an experienced but unpredictable option, while Mekhi Blackmon, the Vikings’ best cornerback last season per PFF, is out for the year with a torn ACL. Fabian Moreau is a veteran option who impressed during camp but is on his 6th team since 2020 and lacks upside. Dwight McGlothern seems to have that upside, but the undrafted free agent shouldn’t be expected to contribute immensely this season as he adapts to the speed and complexity of the NFL.
Should this room remain healthy, it’s reasonable to assume there will be improved play from the starting cornerbacks. But behind them, there is much more uncertainty entering 2024.
How Will Their Starting Quarterback Perform?
Entering training camp, there was a renewed optimism at the quarterback position in Minnesota. Sam Darnold, a veteran free agent, entered training camp as the presumed starter, with young gun J.J. McCarthy seemingly primed to be his successor should he struggle during the season.
Many fans hoped that at some point this season, they would see the future of their franchise when McCarthy would see his first official NFL action. Those hopes were dashed when it was announced that McCarthy would be out for the year with a meniscus injury.
Minnesota’s 2024 season is now ultimately the Sam Darnold Show, leaving many uncertain about how things will unfold. Drafted by the New York Jets in 2018, many thought that Darnold’s throwing ability and athleticism would be a long-awaited answer to the Jets’ quarterback woes. Darnold would end up compiling a 13-25 record during three seasons in New York, and his erratic play led to more turnovers than touchdowns.
He was traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2021 and would end up turning in a similar performance during his first season as a Panther, notching a 4-7 record while throwing for nine touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions.
Darnold did have better numbers during his six games for Carolina in 2022 and was then mentored by quarterback guru Kyle Shanahan in 2023 as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. Those two reasons, along with the 2024 Vikings roster being arguably the most talented supporting cast he’s ever had, are reasons to hope for improved play this coming season as he becomes the starting quarterback for the Vikings. But until we see Darnold on the field, “How will he perform?” remains a question.
Can They Take Care of the Football?
The 2023 Minnesota Vikings team had several issues, but arguably the most glaring was ball security. The Vikings gave up the ball 34 times last season, which ranked 31st in the entire league. Considering there are 17 games in an NFL season, the Vikings averaged two turnovers per game last year.
The quarterback room was a big culprit in the turnover problems last season, accounting for 19 interceptions, and fumbled the ball 15 times while turning over several of them. Darnold is now the lead quarterback, but his history suggests there could be a similar propensity for turnovers.
Since 2018, Darnold has thrown 56 interceptions, and Kirk Cousins has thrown for a similar amount with 55 interceptions since becoming Vikings quarterback in 2018, but those came from almost twice the number of passes thrown. Darnold’s 3.1% career interception rate suggests that if he throws 600+ passes like the Vikings did last season, he will account for roughly 19 interceptions. That’s the same amount Vikings’ passers threw last year. Darnold has also fumbled in nearly 60% of the games he’s played in, suggesting a similar propensity to drop the ball as Vikings’ passers did last season.
The supporting cast around the quarterback room accounted for eight of the 34 total team turnovers in 2023, and that supporting cast remains largely unchanged. Some of the culprits who dropped the ball in 2023 are key pieces to the offense, such as Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson.
Ball security and limiting turnovers will be a major key for the Minnesota Vikings entering 2024, and their ability to do so remains a major question as they await the start of the regular season.
Can They Stay Healthy?
If turnovers were arguably the biggest issue for the Minnesota Vikings in 2023, the issue of injuries was not far behind. Cousins and Jefferson headlined the list of Vikings who missed extended time last season, and their unavailability crippled the team’s chances of a postseason run.
T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Hicks, Cam Akers, Nick Mullens, and Byron Murphy Jr. were other prominent but injured players for the team in 2023, which required the Vikings to rely on their depth down the stretch.
Entering 2024, the team’s overall health is already in question. McCarthy and Blackmon were lost to season-ending injuries during training camp. Griffin was also banged up during camp, limiting his participation. Hockenson is continuing to rehab his knee injury and will at least miss the first four games to start the season.
Addison also missed time during camp due to an ankle injury. His Week 1 status is in question. The number of injuries already sustained thus far is somewhat concerning to a team that is thin at depth in several areas.
For the Vikings to have a successful 2024 season, they will have to have to show they can stay relatively healthy, something they were not able to do in 2023. Whether they can do so or not is a question we will have to wait for them to answer in the next four months.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.