How Much Will The Vikings Miss Andrew Sendejo?

On Monday, the NFL announced a 1-game suspension for Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo, setting up for a second start on the season for backup Anthony Harris. While the legitimacy of this hit will be discussed at length, let’s look at the practicality of the situation: How much does Sendejo contribute? Further, with Sendejo turning 30 in September, how urgently should they pursue a replacement?

The Vikings’ depth chart includes Anthony Harris, who filled in admirably for Sendejo during his week 6 injury and Jayron Kearse, who has primarily been a part of the special teams. Neither of these players have shown the team that they’re worthy of pushing Sendejo’s starting spot, as evidenced by some pretty catastrophic lowlights in the past. In relief, the depth (likely Harris) should provide a “replacement level” baseline against the ailing Browns. But how good is Sendejo, and what do we lose?

Evaluating safeties requires that you understand what teams are asking their safeties to do. It doesn’t make much sense to evaluate players like Jabrill Peppers or Earl Thomas on their run support, as they’re almost always playing deep. Similarly, you have to look at that productivity for players like Jamal Adams or Landon Collins, where run and pass rush support is an integral part of their game. For Sendejo, he’s been within 8 yards of the line of scrimmage on 67% of the run snaps he’s played so far, which means that Zimmer is asking him to be a force in the run game, stick to his gap, and make tackles. He’s also expected to be relevant in coverage and provide help over the top, especially to struggling corner Trae Waynes. Zimmer expects both of his safeties to be able-bodied when lined up deep and on the line, which allows them to roll, switch places, and confuse quarterbacks.

In terms of the run game, Sendejo is pretty flawed. His three run stops (tackles on run plays that keep the offense behind the chains) add up to a below average run stop percentage. Further, he misses a rushing tackle every four or five attempts, which ranks in the bottom ten. Sendejo has been active in a cleanup role, with six additional rushing tackles coming after the offense picked up too much yardage. That’s not necessarily his fault, but shouldn’t be used as an endorsement either.

In coverage, Sendejo isn’t much more productive. While he gets targeted at only an average rate (13 targets), he’s only been able to prevent three from being caught. In terms of yards per cover snap, which is a predictive and stable measure of defensive back play, Sendejo ranks in the bottom ten of qualifying safeties. While it’s difficult to assign responsibility on some pass plays (was Sendejo supposed to help Waynes, or was Waynes supposed to cover better?), it’s safe to say that teams should be targeting Sendejo more than they already are. Without Sendejo, this problem likely only gets worse, but for future planning, it’s worth attempting to improve.

Sendejo has yet to miss a tackle in the passing game per PFF, which raises his overall tackling efficiency to 18th in the league. When Sendejo is late to a play or allows a completion, he’s reliably able to get the ballcarrier down, though, much later than you’d like. As a safety, being a sound passing game tackler is the difference between chunk plays and touchdowns, especially when Sendejo arrives to clean up completions that other players allow. That’s a reliability the Vikings could lose in London, though, the dropoff isn’t as steep as is desirable.

Sometimes, Sendejo’s tackling form is reckless and uncontrolled, which can lead to some brutal hits. Memorably, it caused a scary moment with Xavier Rhodes as well as the hit that resulted in the suspension:

https://twitter.com/FurysFightPicks/status/922148431602356231

Sendejo has a nasty habit of leaving his feet, which caused the Rhodes concussion linked above. He also frequently fails to break down and make sound tackles, instead electing to  fly at the ballcarrier with as much speed and momentum as possible. This makes it harder to adjust to evasion, so he either flies by the ballcarrier or fails to avoid helmet to helmet. If he doesn’t improve upon these habits, it will likely result in more frustrating missed tackles, or worse, more fines and suspensions. It’s not dirty play, it’s technically unsound play. But the latter is arguably just as dangerous.

Nothing about Sendejo’s game is particularly disastrous, and even in his worst categories, he sits squarely in the bell curve of NFL starters. That means that the drop to “replacement level” will be relevant, but it won’t be like downgrading from, say, healthy Phil Loadholt to T.J. Clemmings. Over this coming offseason, look for the Vikings to target young safeties higher in the draft than they have in the past to address this long-term. For now, Sendejo’s loss will be felt, but the defense has been overcoming deficiencies there all season to great results.

Thanks for reading!

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