Are the Vikings the most unique team in the NFL?

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

During the NBA Finals, I listened to basketball podcaster and former ESPN reporter Zach Lowe religiously to get more insight into one of the best series’ of the last decade. After the series wrapped up with a gut-punch Game 7 that saw the Thunder come out victorious in part because the Pacers’ best player tore his Achilles in the first quarter, Lowe produced a long episode looking at the details of the series and the construction of the two teams that played so brilliantly throughout the postseason. He mentioned a common thread between the Thunder and Pacers was that they each had one element of their game that was exceptional. For the Thunder, it was their defense and ability to create turnovers. For the Pacers, it was their high-speed pace, passing and unselfish scoring style.

Lowe made a point that popped: “If you have something unusual about your team, lean into that.”

Naturally that made me think: Does it work to be unusual in the NFL?

The answer seems to be pretty clearly yes. In a passing league, the Philadelphia Eagles finished 29th in passing yards and second in rushing. They also leaned into a play (the “tush push”) that dominated much that other teams presented rules to ban it.

There’s plenty of examples around the league over the last few years of uniqueness helping to drive success. Before pre-snap motion was king, Rams coach Sean McVay was making linebackers’ heads spin on nearly every play. The Ravens and 49ers have used bigger personnel groupings with fullbacks and extra tight ends more than everyone else consistently in recent years. The Lions went for every fourth down. The 2017 Eagles did that before them. The Dolphins got a crazy 2023 season out of Tua Tagovialoa with nearly half his passes coming on screens and play-actions.

NFL history is riddled with teams getting an edge by being different. Whether it was the West Coast offense or Tampa-2 defense or Purple People Eaters, Steel Curtain or Legion of Boom or 50 other examples, being different can be as complex as solving mystifying offenses or defenses or as simple as a team focusing on its roster strengths to the extreme.

It should probably be noted that history is also full of failed teams that were different and not great. Last year Colts QB Anthony Richardson led the NFL in average depth of target by a wide margin over the next most downfield-oriented passer and he finished the season under 50% completion percentage. The Jaguars blitzed 4% less than any team in 2024 and gave up the second most yards.

But for the sake of tying this thought to the Minnesota Vikings, let’s focus on whether they are quantifiably unique as a team and how they can use their talent to further lean into that.

We start with the preposterous success of the Vikings throwing the ball downfield to Justin Jefferson. Per analytics expert Tej Seth, no receiver has produced a higher Completion Percentage Over Expected on deep throws than Jefferson. No receiver with at least 50 targets has a higher EPA/play.

Last year Sam Darnold, who had the fifth highest overall ADOT, went 14-for-23 with 514 yards and four touchdowns when throwing beyond 20 yards in the air to Jefferson.

What the CPOE tells us about Jefferson is that he’s making catches with defenders close to him at much higher rates than you would expect. We can see this on paper with PFF’s “contested catch” stat. Over the last three years, the superstar receiver has had 24 chances to make contested catches on throws over 20 yards and he has brought in 13 of them. To put that in context, out of 16 receivers with at least eight contested-catch opportunities in 2024, only four of them brought in 50% or more.

If you are wondering, Jordan Addison went 4-for-7 on deep contested catches and finished seventh in yards created by throws over 20 yards in the air.

Combine the high ADOT and elite efficiency of the Vikings’ downfield passing and it would seem the Vikings are leaning into their uniqueness. It shows even more when we look at the trend in the NFL when it comes to downfield passing. Last year the Vikings were one of four teams to have an ADOT over 8.4 yards and there were eight teams below 7.0 but in 2018 there were 12 teams over 8.4 and only two teams below 7.0.

Since the Vikings offense had good results through the air by pushing the football downfield, ranking 10th in passing Expected Points Added and 6th in team quarterback rating, it would stand to reason that they will try to replicate the 2024 passing attack again in 2025 with new quarterback JJ McCarthy. But when we look back at the Vikings’ passing games in 2023 and 2022 under O’Connell, it does not appear that they need to go all in on the deep stuff.

In his 25 games as KOC’s starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins was under 7.5 ADOT. In those two seasons, he totaled 47 touchdowns to 19 INTs with a 67.1% completion percentage. In each of his two seasons, Cousins used 20+ yard throws on less than 10% of his total passes, but ranked seventh in completion percentage on the deep stuff.

Before getting injured in 2023, Cousins ranked second in PFF grade on short passes (between 1-10 yards) and fifth in intermediate passing. He has 18 TDs to 5 INTs through eight weeks with a 103.8 rating.

It’s possible that O’Connell wanted Cousins to throw deep more often all along but another interpretation might be that the offense was heavy on 20+ yard throws with the rocket-armed Darnold and more focused on intermediate and short passes with the precision-based Cousins. Because the Vikings’ group of weapons is dynamic, they can lean into whatever is working. With Cousins, TJ Hockenson became a vital piece of the offense. Under Darnold, he was a less-utilized target.

O’Connell can’t try to be unique in his downfield passing just for the sake of being unique. It has to play into McCarthy’s comfort within the offense. At the same time, if the Vikings are one of the rare teams that can consistently crack defenses’ “shell” coverages that have been en vogue in recent years, there are big gains to be had. Sometimes it’s not as simple as leaning in.

The Vikings have also struggled to put together an intimidating rushing attack over a 17-game season since KOC arrived. This year they invested greatly in the interior of their offensive line and added running back Jordan Mason, a bruiser who averaged more than five yards per carry last season. Could they shift identities to look more like the 49ers? Especially with multiple tight ends that could be used for more personnel groupings?

Is there an argument that being able to do many different things as an offense rather than having one identity is unique in itself? It might seem the Vikings are going for the most flexible possible offense rather than one that goes heavy on one area.

How about on the defensive side?

For years Brian Flores has stood on an island as the coach who sends 5+ rushers at the quarterback more than anyone else in the NFL. The Vikings ranked No. 1 in blitz percentage in 2023 and 2024 and the Dolphins were 2nd in the league in 2020 and 2021 when he was their head coach.

The aggressive approach is paired with Flores’s vision for the types of players that fit with his scheme. The easiest player to demonstrate the Flores Effect is Andrew Van Ginkel, who led the NFL in coverage snaps with 204 last season. There were only two other edge rushers over 100.

It’s tough to find another team in the league with as many players who either rush the passer from the second level or drop back from the D-line. Josh Metellus led all safeties with 18 QB pressures last year and Harrison Smith had the fifth most pass-rush snaps. Blake Cashman was second among linebackers in pass rushes and Ivan Pace Jr. ranked 9th in QB pressures.

Behind the front seven, the Vikings’ coverage is a moving target. They play more zone than most teams but Flores has also built a fluid system that is built on making adjustments after the opponent breaks the huddle. Cashman, Smith and Byron Murphy Jr. are drivers of the communication, changing coverages based on the opponent’s tendencies and pre-snap checks. All teams have some version of this but Flores’s defense seems to take it to the extreme where the players are truly leading the charge rather than just following the play calls.

This year, personnel may dictate some differences from last year. They have quicker corners who should be able to add more man coverage to their arsenal. The Vikings have interior pass rushing skill at the defensive tackle position, which they have been lacking since 2018.

The D-line overhaul might make them even more unique. Most teams in the NFL have long ago left the traditional 3-4 defense in the dust in favor of nickel packages but this unit with Jonathan Allen, Harrison Phillips and Javon Hargrave could look like something out of the 1994 Pittsburgh Steelers’ playbook at times if they have five players on the line of scrimmage and options to drop back edge rushers and blitz middle linebackers.

One player who offers something completely different to the mix in 2025 is Dallas Turner. Last year Patrick Jones played 459 snaps and rushed the passer on 315 of them and only dropped back in coverage 42 times. In 302 snaps as a rookie, Turner dropped back 55 times. The former Alabama star has the ability to be a Van Ginkel clone, which gives Flores the potential to put three OLBs on the field at the same time and mix and match where they line up. Again, there aren’t many teams that have the ability to do that.

So what is the value of uniqueness?

That is a tough thing to pin down. Does it exist somewhere in the Vikings’ impressive one-score game record under O’Connell? Is it baked into the fact that Flores’s last four defenses have ranked 6th, 16th, 13th and 5th and two of those units were No. 1 in the league in takeaways and another was 8th?

Does it live below the surface as the Vikings enter every game knowing that their opponent has only a few days to create a completely different gameplan on both sides of the ball from most other opponents on their schedule?

Is it as simple as the Vikings’ uniqueness being focused on the things that we know drive success in the NFL i.e. passing efficiency and causing havoc for the other team’s quarterback?

It’s likely some combination of all of those things. That doesn’t guarantee that they will be the next Indiana Pacers or Oklahoma City Thunder but it’s probably not mentioned enough during the discussion of O’Connell’s tenure or McCarthy’s odds at success. It could be a consistent driving factor, similar to the way the Rams, 49ers and Eagles have used their identities to remain NFC powers in recent years.

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