Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
By all accounts, the Minnesota Vikings had a solid draft last week and used their first three picks to address needs on the defensive side of the ball. They didn’t, however, focus on stopping the run, as both Trae Waynes and Eric Kendricks are clear coverage players and are joining a Vikings squad that finished the 2014 season allowing an average of 121 rushing yards per game.
The NFL is hardly a rushing league, but as Vikings fans know, a stellar rushing attack can win games and keep a franchise in playoff contention. Head coach Mike Zimmer has assembled a defense that is well equipped to handle today’s pass-heavy offenses, but if he can’t stop the run it’s hard to see how the Vikings will overcome the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks this season, four teams that center their offense on running the ball.
The Vikings do have plenty of young talent that hopefully gets better against the run, and this includes Waynes, who is expected to start the year opposite Xavier Rhodes at outside cornerback. Waynes is a good man coverage corner who sticks with his guy and is used to playing one-on-one with little to no help. The reason why Waynes is so good at sticking with his man, however, is because he rarely looks at the quarterback and often has his back turned to the play, resulting in missed tackles when opponents run the ball.
The Vikings’ second-round pick out of UCLA is another highly thought of player, as Kendricks won the 2014 Butkus Award, given to the nation’s best linebacker, and was hailed as the best coverage linebacker coming out of the draft. But Kendricks was available in the second for the Vikings for a reason, and that reason is his inability to break free of blockers and make plays on the running back. Kendricks can be taken out of the play rather easily by a single blocker and will need to build more strength to be a run-stopping presence in the middle.
The wild card of the Vikings’ draft class came in the form of third-round pick Danielle Hunter. Hunter was a highly-regarded prospect coming out of high school and simply failed to live up to they hype that comes with being a long and athletic 6-foot-5, 250-pound pass rusher. Hunter had trouble getting to the quarterback during his time at LSU, but he can effectively set the edge against the run. With great weight-room habits, it’s conceivable he’ll be able to split time at both defensive end positions this season.
While it appears the Vikings defense got much better this offseason, it’s never smart to expect big things from players who have yet to take a snap in the NFL — especially when they’re playing on a defense that has a major hole that has yet to be addressed. The Vikings should be better on both sides of the ball this season, but with a few holes left to fill, this is a team that will be lucky to snag the second Wild Card spot.
Nick Baker is a contributing writer for Rant Sports and you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and add him to your network on Google.
