DE Kenny Willekes looking to make his mark after 2020 camp injury
Willekes stood out in 2020 camp before an injury, now he's trying to come back strong
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — Kenny Willekes is out of breath and drenched as he agrees to talk for a few minutes after practice. While everyone else cools down and walks off the field, he’s just been going hard doing extra simulated pass rushes off to the side with an offensive linemen.
“Having so much time off football, you’re a little rusty coming back so I’m just trying to get my timing back down with my pass rush with my get-off and my hands,” Willekes told Purple Insider.
Last year around this time, Willekes was starting to emerge as an intriguing rookie in Minnesota Vikings’ camp. Despite COVID setting back all first-year players in 2020 with the delay of the start of camp and cancellation of OTAs and minicamp, he was making plays on a daily basis. It appeared there was an opportunity for him to emerge as a role player because Danielle Hunter went down with a neck injury and Yannick Ngakoue was the only proven pass rusher on the roster.
Without preseason games last year, the only chance Willekes had to shine in a game-like environment was the Vikings’ scrimmage at US Bank Stadium. It represented an opportunity for the seventh-round pick out of Michigan State to show something with his second-team reps.
Instead, it ended his season.
Willekes, who had 18 sacks over his final two years of college, suffered a knee injury during the scrimmage and missed the entire year.
“It was unfortunate,” Willekes said. “It’s not the way you ever want to go out on the season, especially your rookie year but I’d say it was a learning experience. I learned a lot. I was able to almost take like a redshirt year so you try to learn from it and bounce back, work hard and try to bounce back.”
In recent practices, it has appeared that he is indeed starting to bounce back. Willekes got second-team work during an 11-on-11 passing situation as an interior rusher against right guard Oli Udoh on Monday. The two went back and forth for several reps and ultimately the 24-year-old D-end ended up getting to the quarterback.
As Willekes makes is comeback, he’s searching for silver linings about his bad break in 2020. He said he feels like getting the handle of what it’s like to be an NFL player in his first year is giving him an edge toward making noise in this year’s camp.
“I think I just learned a lot more about how to be in a professional setting,” Willekes said. “It’s a business, you have to make sure you’re on top of your stuff. You have to take care of your own body, watch your own film. It’s not like college, they’re not going to babysit you.”
Based on the roster, it seems there is an opening for the second-year rusher to carve out a niche in the same way former seventh-rounders like Stephen Weatherly or Ifeadi Odenigbo have in the past. On the unofficial depth he’s listed behind Weatherly and DJ Wonnum at right defensive end, while Jalyn Holmes, Hercules Mata’afa, Jordan Brailford and Janarius Robinson are the left defensive ends. Rookie Patrick Jones is in the mix too.
The team already has a sense for what Holmes and Mata’afa bring to the table, so if they decide that they’ve seen enough of either or both (or there is an injury), Willekes could have a shot at earning a spot. He could also end up with a practice squad job and a chance to eventually work his way onto the 53 the way Odenigbo/Weatherly once did.
Throughout his football career to this point, Willekes has always slammed through any door that’s been left open a crack. He was a walk-on to Michigan State and didn’t see any action until his third year of college. Once he was on the field for 13 games as a sophomore, he picked up 5.5 sacks and led the team in tackles for loss.
During draft season 2020, some analysts fell in love with his production and technical skills, while others were skeptical. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote:
“He's become a very impactful college player against all odds, but lacks the athletic profile to stick around long-term as a pro.”
However, it seems that his athleticism wasn’t given quite enough credit. At the 2020 Combine, Willekes scored an above average 40-yard dash, broad jump, 3-cone drill and bench press, showing that some of his college sacks may have been about more than just a high motor.
This will be a big week for everyone among the defensive ends battling for position. The Vikings will face off with the Denver Broncos for two straight practices and then take on the Broncos at US Bank Stadium on Saturday in preseason action. It will be Willekes’s first time in a game scenario since he got hurt during last year’s scrimmage.
He says the knee is ready to roll.
“Landed on it the other day and no problems with it, so it feels really good getting back in my groove,” Willekes said.
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I would love to see Willekes, the 2019 Burlsworth Trophy recipient, have a successful NFL career. Let's hear it for the underdog!!!!!