Andrew Van Ginkel's value to Vikings defense is impossible to quantify

A subtle play in the win over the Lions demonstrated the importance of AVG's return

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell wanted his entire team to see Andrew Van Ginkel’s effort.

He showed them a clip of the veteran outside linebacker being knocked down on a blindside hit by Detroit Lions wide receiver Kalif Raymond and Van Ginkel still finding a way to create a tackle for loss on a screen.

“He’s on the ground but still recognizes that Gibbs had the ball on the screen and he makes the play,” O’Connell said. “The instinctiveness of plays like that.”

The play earned a “Baldy’s Breakdown” from former NFL’er and NFL Network personality Brian Baldinger.

Van Ginkel explained in the locker room that — despite being knocked to the ground from behind — he was able to still identify the Lions blocking on the play and had a guess at where they were headed with the football.

“I felt the O-line all moving to that direction,” Van Ginkel said. “I figured at that point it was going to be a screen and it so happened that I fell into the play.”

For Blake Cashman, the extra effort was typical of the 2024 second-team All-Pro.

“To get knocked down and have awareness to pop right back up and find the ball carrier and stop a potentially explosive play right there,” Cashman said. “It doesn’t matter what happens to Gink on the field, I can always trust him to get back on the play.”

While Van Ginkel’s instincts and grit were on display, he was not happy at all that he was forced into that position. He felt that Raymond blindsided him. At the end of the play on the All-22, you can spot No. 43 gesturing to the referee.

“I thought it was a dirty play,” Van Ginkel said. “Getting hit on the side, I’m going to pass rush and all of the sudden I get whiplash. The guy blindsides me, I’m not going to too much detail about it but I wasn’t too pleased with it. I think that’s something the league should look at, if it’s something they need to take out of the game because we can’t be doing that.”

Fellow linebacker Eric Wilson went into his own form of extra detail about the hit on AVG.

“It was absolute bulls—,” Wilson said. “It was a cheap shot.”

“But the man is an absolute baller,” Wilson continued. “A play like that where you get knocked down and don’t even see the guy and then get up and get a TFL, I say he’s a walking TFL. He’s a great player. “

While Van Ginkel might have been more frustrated than happy about his highlight, it was a drop in the bucket of his importance to the Vikings defense.

In the win over the Lions, he played 39 snaps, picked up two QB pressures, dropped back in coverage 13 times, made three run stops for negative plays and helped the entire unit play mind games all day long with QB Jared Goff.

“It’s just the communication,” O’Connell said. “Everybody’s on the same page. We had way more snaps with Andrew Van Ginkel on the field where all 11 guys did their jobs and knew exactly what the call was. So he provides so many layers of things to our defense that allows [Brian Flores] to be who he wants to be as a play caller.”

The Vikings defense blitzed on 57% of Goff’s drop-backs and he took three of his five sacks vs. extra rush and was pressured in total 43% of the time.

In previous weeks without Van Ginkel, the little things like communication or setting edges or showing confusing pre-snap looks or shutting down screens — those things were not there in the same way as he was recovering from a neck injury.

Now that he is in the lineup, the Vikings defense seems complete again. It looks like the version we saw last season and the unit that we expected them to be heading into 2025.

Few players will play as important a role this week against dynamic quarterback Lamar Jackson as Van Ginkel.

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