Rookies Encounter What’s New at TCO

The Vikings hosted their new crop of rookie draft picks and undrafted free agent rookies at TCO Performance Center, and I was among them—literally. Making my first trip down to the Vikings new training center in Eagan was like starting all over again with the team, as I bumbled around this monstrous facility like a kindergartener on his first day of school. I am not sure if it was poetic in any way that I followed the venerable Sid Hartman in the door (or just foreshadowing), but it seemed to fit. The senior set taking on the TCO with the new guys.

At first glance, the facility clearly eclipses the footprint of U.S. Bank Stadium with its massive training areas, orthopedic center and soon to be pretty like pond/lake. (The center dwarfs Winter Park.) With six fields (one inside), TCO is immense, and it doesn’t surprise me that the neighbors across O’Neill Drive were complaining about the light emanating from the shiny, new, white edifice.

While I am veteran of the Vikings practices after years of attending camp in Mankato and OTAs and practices at Winter Park, the new digs can throw even a seasoned scribe. As I stood along the sidelines where the rookies were going through a walk-thru, I snapped a couple photos with my phone camera and was immediately told to put it away by the head of the media relations staff Bob Hagen—he signaled me from across the field like a referee signally a field goal that was no good. (Interestingly enough, rookie kicker Daniel Carlson was practicing lining up for field goals with rookie long snapper Nick Dooley and a holder that look eerily similar to Blair Walsh). To make such a rookie mistake was bad form on my part—I have no desire to tick off head coach Mike Zimmer on my first day at the new facility (or any day, for that matter).

But everything is new at TCO, and it isn’t for just “rookies,” such as myself. The Vikings and their staff are still working out the bugs, as construction of the site (particularly the 5,000-seat stadium) continues—not unlike what’s going on out on the practice field. Rookie offensive lineman Brian O’Neill signed his first NFL contract this morning, working out any bugs there might have been in negotiations—and it doesn’t sound like there were any.

“I think that [signing the deal before taking the field] was something coming in that I had a goal to do,” O’Neill said. “I’m happy I got that done, so now it’s all about ball.”

O’Neill has some bugs to work out on the field, as the former tight end played tackle last year and will now have to adjust to that position in big, bad NFL. At first sighting (without pads), O’Neill definitely looks more like a tight end than a tackle. But he is articulate and intense and appears to have the right attitude to make the change.

“Everybody has their own opinion. Everybody is entitled to that opinion,” O’Neill said in response to a question about speculation that it could take a year before he develops to the change of position. “I think really the only opinions that matter now in my world are Coach Sparano, Coach DeFilippo and Coach Zimmer’s. They are the ones who make that call. Whatever they ask me to do, I am going to try to do it the best I can. Whatever they perceive as my weaknesses and they tell me I need to fix, I am going to fix. At this point, I am only focused on their three opinions. Everybody else, is it is what it is.”

Rookie linebacker Devante Downs has a different kind of bug to work out. He was at the walk thru but wasn’t allowed to participate fully due to rehabbing the knee injury that ended his last season at the University of California. It is the second time the 7th rounder has had to go through rehab, but that is helping him handle the process again.

“It’s a slow process. People kind of look down on it, but obviously I came back from it and I am going to do it again,” said Downs, who was practicing at Mike linebacker, but says the Vikings want him to learn all three spots. “I have no doubts in my mind that I am going to come back stronger.”

Someone who is midseason form already, at least as far as talking to the media is concerned, was head coach Zimmer, who was sparring lightly with reporters and explaining (kiddingly) how he wanted the media scrums to be reduced to three minutes this year, even though Hagen is holding out for eight minutes. He also said that the drafting of Carlson wasn’t exactly meant to put pressure on veteran Kai Forbath—at least not yet.

“There’s plenty of time for that; we’re just trying to create competition,” Zimmer said. “Kai’s done really good this spring. So, we’re just going to let them go out there and kick. We’re always going to try and create the best atmospheres that we can.”

Regarding some of the raw players that the Vikings have brought in this offseason, defensive end Ade Aruna and defensive tackle Jalyn Holmes among them, Zimmer quoted his old mentor Bill Parcells and said he was told not to be an “I.E., instant evaluator” with the players, as some take longer to develop. This is something the Vikings have certainly demonstrated in not being afraid to take on raw talents and projects, such as Danielle Hunter, who has turned into a great defensive player for the Vikings.

“He was a little bit of a pet cat all along,” Zimmer said of Holmes. “We watched him early at Ohio State, he’s played a bunch of different positions there. He’s got great size, great length, athletic ability. We still think he’s got a lot of raw, untapped potential. This is a guy that Andre [Patterson] not only did a lot of work on him but guys like him are guys that he’s really made succeed in this league.”

Developing raw talent is nothing new for the Vikings, particularly for Zimmer and his staff. Zimmer has long been known to be the cornerback whisperer, a coach who likes to develop players and bring them along relatively slowly so they are in a position to succeed when called upon.

“We love to teach,” Zimmer said of working with the rookies. “I love being in front of the team in a classroom setting, talk to them about what we’re trying to do. Then, we go out here and try to teach technique as best as we can to make each and every player better.”

Speaking of cornerbacks, first-round draft pick Mike Hughes impressed at least one observer (me) in the one practice open to the media on Friday. He looked like he was taking in things well.

“It was a little different, I got to learn some inside corner, Hughes said of his first day in the league. “It felt pretty good. Getting adjusted to some new techniques, learning from different coaches. So, it was a pretty good day. I feel like I’m adjusting well.”

The wind at TCO was howling and making punt return drills problematic for the returners (although it was a great day kicking with the wind for undrafted free agent Hayden Hunt). Hunt sailed a punt far over the head of Hughes, who was back to receive it. But Hughes back-pedaled and tracked it like a cornerback and then easily hauled in the wobbly ball and took off down the sidelines. The confidence and calm he showed in doing so was far and above what I saw take place at several gusty training camp days down in Mankato in recent years, and it bodes well for the return team.

“Actually, during warm-ups, dropped my first one, kind of got the jitters out,” Hughes said. “But after that I felt more comfortable and started looking the ball in and just being myself and playing football.”

(All the said, both Trae Waynes and Marcus Sherels better stay focused, Hughes appears that he will push them both.)

Still, it is rookies camp, and it is easy for players to stand out among other rookies—particularly a spate of undrafted ones. (They’re rookies, and we all have some troubles with things that are have a new spin to them, even when we have been doing them for years.) The real tale of their prospective contributions will start to be determined when they line up with and against the rest of the Vikings veteran roster. That can’t come soon enough for us other rookies.

 

 

 

 

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