Sheldon Richardson was the Vikings’ best defender in Week 1

Sheldon Richardson, #93, pressuring 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Richardson ending up sacking Garoppolo once while hitting him three times.

The Vikings defense put on another show on Sunday, this time in a 24-16 victory over the visiting 49ers at U.S. Bank Stadium. Many players, including Danielle Hunter, Xavier Rhodes and Danielle Hunter stood out, but it’s a new face in town that gets this week’s game ball.

Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, previously with the Jets (as a defensive end) and Seahawks, signed a one-year contract with Minnesota in the offseason to form an interior duo with Linval Joseph. Richardson turns 28 in late November, so this contract is an insane bargain for the Vikings.

And if Sunday’s performance is of any indication, this could be a steal.

Sheldon Richardson’s numbers in his Vikings debut include six tackles, 0.5 sacks, 0.5 tackles for a loss, and three quarterback hits. Even then, that doesn’t begin to describe how much of an immediate impact Richardson made in Week 1, as he was crucial to the defense’s dominance that day.

For more on that, let’s look at Richardson’s dominant performance.

Sheldon Richardson helps get Hunter a TFL

The combination of Danielle Hunter and Sheldon Richardson was too much for the 49ers’ offensive line to handle, as shown on this play. In fact, Richardson was destroying San Francisco’s guards all game long, and it starts here.

Here, it’s too easy. Richardson uses his power to charge through right guard Mike Pearson as he chases down running back Matt Breida. Hunter is also there and would like have tackled Breida anyway, but Richardson’s presence forces Breida to backpedal slightly for a loss.

Sheldon Richardson toasts Mike Pearson

Richardson also shared a sack with Sack Daddy himself, Everson Griffen. Here, Richardson gets inside leverage on Pearson, pushing him out of the stratosphere and granting him easy access to Jimmy Garoppolo. Richardson can’t take him down immediately, but he and Griffen eventually pair up to split the sack.

Sheldon Richardson destroys guard allowing Hunter to get sack

This sack was offset by a holding penalty that was called on Xavier Rhodes, but once again, Richardson makes his presence felt by setting up Danielle Hunter for the sack. He wiggles a bit when the ball is snapped and gets inside hands on left guard Laken Tomlinson. At 295 lb., he pushes Tomlinson into Garoppolo, panicking the quarterback and allowing Hunter to pounce onto him for the sack that, unfortunately, did not count.

Garoppolo stares down

Finally, Richardson created the pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo’s third interception, the one that ultimately sealed the game for the Vikings. This time, Richardson goes up against the rookie right tackle Mike McGlinchey (lined up as a guard to replace the injured Mike Pearson), but the end result is the same.

Richardson performs a swim move as he rushes up the A-gap. Garoppolo, caught staring down, is forced to make a costly throw under pressure that goes into the arms of Harrison Smith to put the game away for good.

To conclude, Sheldon Richardson was a hell of a pickup for the Vikings’ defensive line and was essential in helping create interceptions and sacks for Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen. If he keeps this up, Minnesota might have to sign him to a long-term deal.

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