Jonathan Greenard Isn’t Done Helping the Vikings
During last month’s NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings acquired some youth for Brian Flores’ unit. In the process, however, they shipped one of his top players to the Philadelphia Eagles. Pass rusher Jonathan Greenard will play for the NFC foes moving forward.
The Vikings will certainly miss their leader in their locker room, but also his contributions on the field. The excellent run defender and pass rusher is no longer around and a replacement has to be found.
The good news is that the search isn’t complicated by any means, as Dallas Turner arrived in the first round of the 2024 draft.
Greenard functioned as Turner’s mentor for two years and he’s now ready to hand the keys to the pass-rushing car to his understudy. In a recent appearance on Green Light with Chris Long, a former NFL player for the Eagles, he shared his thoughts on the 23-year-old, who’s now a presumed starter in the Twin Cities.
“The next person up is Dallas Turner. When he’s on, and he’s dialed in on the game plan, I mean, the kid is a bottle of explosion. I mean, the guy literally is, like I mentioned before, the 4.4 guy and he’s only just breaking the surface of how he’s going to be in this league.”
Turner entered the NFL as a freak athlete with room to grow in the fundamentals department. In his rookie year, he was stuck in fourth place on the depth chart behind Pro Bowlers Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel, who both thrived under Brian Flores. Patrick Jones was a valuable backup in his statistical breakout season.
There was little opportunity for Turner to make noise, averaging under 20 defensive snaps per game in his rookie campaign. He logged three sacks and frequently demonstrated “the bottle of explosion.” Overall, his rookie season was on the quieter side for highly-touted first-rounders, though.
Greenard took him under his wing last offseason and worked out with Turner while others were enjoying their holidays. And he claims he’ll continue to be Turner’s big brother.
“But that’s who I’m taking care of next. I’m watching real close, I’m still going to be talking to him the same way. Like, ‘listen, X, Y, Z has to happen, or this is not going to happen.’
Greenard was a team captain last year and was regarded as one of the squad’s leaders in the locker room. It doesn’t sound as if he’s quite ready to leave Turner and the Vikings behind entirely.
“Just the little small things you gotta have,” the veteran defender added. “When you’re dealing with a young guy like that … they don’t know what they don’t know yet. And I think that’s the part where he’s going to take this big, big step. You see him kind of do a little towards the end of the last season. And now this point, shoot, I said, ‘It’s time now. It’s your time, it’s your team. You need to go ahead and make that happen.’ So I’ll be looking real close for him and I know it’s going to get done because that boy a dawg.”
Turner had just turned 21 ahead of his draft experience and he’s still only 23 years old. He was starting to put things together last year when he finally received playing time in Greenard’s pass-rushing role rather than in Van Ginkel’s do-it-all role. Unfortunately, it took a Greenard injury to make it happen.
In his second season as a pro, Turner appeared in all 17 games, making 10 starts. He logged 8 sacks, 66 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and perhaps the best aspect of his numbers, an exceptional 4 forced fumbles.
Turner was flying off the edge in Greenard’s position. The physical tools have always been there, but it’s fun to watch them turn into production. He also provided solid help in the running game, something not all young edge defenders can do.
The young former Crimson Tide is in a prime position for a breakout season. His competition is no longer around and he showed massive improvement last year. Given his talent and his age, there’s no reason to believe that momentum can’t carry over into 2026.
Besides giving Vikings fans further belief in Turner’s potential, Greenard’s words show one thing: He’s a great teammate and his presence will be missed in Minnesota. The Vikings are not scheduled to face the Philadelphia Eagles in 2026, unless the two franchises meet in the postseason for the first time since the NFC title game nearly a decade ago.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.