Minicamp Begins: Noted and Quoted

The Minnesota Vikings opened their 2017 minicamp at Winter Park on Tuesday. Perhaps the best news for observers at the minicamp were the sight of head coach Mike Zimmer (complete with sunglasses covering his eight-times surgically repaired right eye, prowling and sometimes growling on the practice field) and the sight of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater throwing and completing passes.

Both were present last week at the final week of OTAs, but as minicamp starts to ramp up participation for the team, their presence was a sight for sore eyes (and knees, perhaps). Certainly, Zimmer felt that way.

“I think we had a good start today,” Zimmer told reporters. “We got a lot of work accomplished. The team is working hard, paying attention. We are out here a little longer today than OTAs, but we got a lot of situations taken care of, and I like this team.”

Meanwhile, Bridgewater got into the act in the initial passing drills of the practice (although he had to watch during any 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills). Bridgewater looked good in his limited time behind center (although he was third string behind Sam Bradford and Case Keenum). He was accurate and on time, looking much like he did a year ago before his horrific knee injury prior to the season.

If there was anything I noticed was that he occasionally threw a tad high to some receivers—which is symptomatic of his earlier work—but nothing was uncatchable (and all were caught). He also doesn’t have the typical springy hop of a young quarterback in the pocket, which is understandable given the nature of his injury. But that should ultimately (hopefully) return in due course.

Here are a few more notes and quotes from the first day of minicamp:

In addition to Bridgewater with his iconic two gloves, backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke was practicing with a glove on his throwing hand. Chances are he was wearing some protective device on his ankle, as well.

The first team offensive line was the same as in OTAs—from left to right: Riley Reiff, Alex Boone, Nick Easton, Joe Berger and Mike Remmers. That group didn’t include rookie center Pat Elflein, who is working to crack the lineup. Zimmer had the following to say about Elflein:

“He has done some things that are really natural. There have been a couple of times where he might have his block taken care of and then he sees another guy and he is able to move to get to the next thing. I think he has moved in space well to get to some of the perimeter players on the screens. I think he has done a nice job in the protection part of controlling things. He has done good. There is obviously still a lot of things to work on, but he has been very impressive.”

Hearing Elflein speak to reporters, he has a bit of edge to him, which should come in handy in his quest for playing time.

The leadership award goes to defensive end Everson Griffen, whose motor is rarely idle. On one play, rookie running back Dalvin Cook took a handoff off left tackle and raced through the defenders to the second level and started slowing up. Griffen had been pursuing the play from his position at left end across the field and surprised the rookie when he rushed upon him. Cook uttered a noise of surprise while Griffen just chuckled, as if to say, “finish out your runs, Rook.” Later on, cornerback Xavier Rhodes showed the same effort in pursuing a play with Cook over on the other side of the field. Cook did not slow up this time.

Former offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings has been working this offseason at a new position: backup right guard. It is his third position in three seasons, and Zimmer was asked how the third-year man was doing with the constant shuffling:

“It’s a little bit of a work in progress,” Zimmer said. “I felt the best place for him is where it’s a little bit more condensed. So, T.J. is a great kid. He’s going to give you his best every day and he’s going to come out here and work. He doesn’t really care where he plays. Obviously, he’d like to be comfortable somewhere. But, I think this might be a good spot for him. If you’re not starting, you have to play more than one position, anyway. But, this is something that we wanted to look at this spring and kind of see how it pans out.”

MoBo (Moritz Boehringer) has mo’ confidence this season. He looks better in route running and going after the ball. Could be a make-or-break year for the Germany-born wideout.

Once again, second-year receiver Laquan Treadwell, who was in his usual post-practice position of doing extra work (catching one-handed passes while balancing on a wobbly, inflated device) looked good. He caught one pass from Bradford that he maybe shouldn’t have—stretching and extending backwards to haul in a pass thrown behind him. If he keeps up what we have seen in OTAs and so far in minicamp, Treadwell could be a lot of fun to watch this season.

The short-passing game to running backs, in my opinion, is going to be a big part of the Vikings offense this season. The first session after individual passing drills was a 11-on-11 with nothing but short passes to running backs and tight ends. It is going to be a big emphasis for the team this season with Latavius Murray, Jerick McKinnon and Cook constantly presenting a receiving threat out of the backfield.

The defensive line was seen doing what appeared to me to be a new drill in which they ran around the goal post, smacking aside the protective wrap on it as they went by. It was either a new way to work on beating stiff, offensive linemen or work on a new touchdown celebration since the NFL rules for them have been relaxed a bit. If it is (it is not), I am not sure how theatric this new “cele” would be, or how often it would be used by defensive linemen.

In the kicking contest between Kai Forbath and Marshall Koehn there was no blood drawn on Tuesday. The pair kicked eight field goals (and I am not sure of the split) from ranges of 37-46 yards and all eight went through the uprights. Hopefully that means that calling the winner here is a good problem to have for special teams coordinator Mike Priefer.

It was also practice day for new referees, and the group at Winter Park included a female ref, presumably on one of her first assignments. During one 11-on-11 play, she blew her whistle and called a false start, which caused the players to stop in their tracks. The call was met with some derision from the players, as the refs are supposed to throw the flag when they see an infraction but not blow the whistle so the team can still take the rep.

A play later, following her embarrassment, a ball boy was requesting the football from rookie running back Terence Newby, saying “Hey, Newby.” Thinking that it was a reference to her, the female ref turned to find out they were calling out the other newbie, or Newby, as it were. The nearby media members enjoyed it.

And finally, during one pass play that ended up looking like a three-car accident, several players hit the deck and Coach Zimmer, perhaps still cognizant of the injury-plagued 2016 season, yelled at the players, who were not wearing any pads. “Stay, the @#$% up, god %$#-% it,” Zimmer said. C’mon, stay up!”

Good to hear Zim is still in full throat for the upcoming season.

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