Friday Mailbag: Finally, a football game

The Vikings play on Saturday and there are plenty of questions heading into the game

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By Matthew Coller

Finally, football!

First, a quick update: The Vikings had a fairly light practice in shells on Thursday, so there weren’t many takeaways to write a camp journal with. Figured we’re all onto preseason mode anyway, so let’s get into it…

Dermo Man…. With Jordan Addison suspended for 3 games, for me the key stat in these 3 games will be time of possession, hence we need Darrisaw to start to get the run game going - for me, he could be the most important person on the roster for those three games. Who would be most important for you ?

No disagreement from me on Darrisaw being the most important player on the team. He is a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to his run blocking but even bigger might be the fact that he never needs any help. They can use Josh Oliver, CJ Ham or Aaron Jones as an extra blocker to help wherever they need because they know Darrisaw is fine on an island. There’s a major ripple effect when he’s out. I’d also say the same for Ryan Kelly. He’s the commander up there and his backup has never played in a real game. Big gap.

To your point, I don’t disagree that time of possession is important and we could see them play a little more grindy football than KOC usually plays during those first three games. At the same time, Sam Darnold threw for 657 yards and eight touchdowns in the first three games last year and they didn’t have a healthy Addison.

During that stretch, they spread the ball out around Jefferson. Against the 49ers, Aaron Jones had five catches, Jalen Nailor had three, Brandon Powell and Johnny Mundt had two and Trent Sherfield got one. I could see it being the same way, only with Josh Oliver, Rondale Moore, Lucky Jackson and Tai Felton.

It’s really about playing a complete game like they did in those wins. They played great defense, ran effectively and hit on some explosive plays through the air.

IceColdNorth… Updated projection for the Mr. Mankato crown for 2025?

Well, the preseason is truly where Mr. Mankato legends are born but right now I’d have to go with Zemaiah Vaughn as the favorite with Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Kobe King and Ben Yurosek all in the conversation. But things could change quickly if guys like Myles Price, Dontae Fleming or Silas Bolden come out and put together huge games. I’m curious if Max Brosmer gets enough chances to be in the mix too.

Wiggy… Which players are you excited to see battle against each other in joint practice? I’m definitely excited for Diggs vs Murphy!

Josh Dobbs revenge practice?

Seriously, Jonathan Greenard vs. Will Campbell will be a popcorn situation. The Patriots have a pretty nasty defensive line with Milton Williams, Christian Barmore and Keion White. The interior is going to get a pretty good test there.

I’m not sure if either Christian Gonzalez or Justin Jefferson are going to participate but if they do, that gets the top spot on the marquee.

Griffin… Outside of JJ McCarthy - what are you looking to learn from the preseason games?

A bunch of things come to mind. In no particular order…

— Kick returning. What will Tai Felton look like out there? Will Rondale Moore look like the locked-in punt returner or will we see somebody else shine?

— Rookies who have looked good in camp (Ingram-Dawkins, King)

— How much Donovan Jackson plays and how he performs

— How the wide receivers are deployed and whether someone steps up

— Does Sam Howell and/or Brett Rypien look better running the offense?

— Do we see flashes from some other defensive players that we haven’t talked about much like Gabe Murphy, Bo Richter etc.

— Kicking? Punting?

Thomas H… How is the run defense looking without Bullard? Obviously pass rush has improved but could it be at the cost of run defense?

It’s pretty hard to figure out without tackling but the offense does appear to be winning the battle there. The joint practices will tell us a little better.

I’m starting to think that Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez could both be significant parts of the rotation and both of them have the potential to be strong run defenders. The other thing is that the other players around the D-line are great tacklers. Cashman, Pace Jr., Metellus, Murphy, Harry… even Isaiah Rodgers grades well as a run defender for his career.

We also have to remember that part of the reason that they dominated the run last year was because they were always winning. There may be some times where they can’t completely shut teams down like they did in 2024 but they can get more consistent pressure and that will impact QBs more overall.

Matt D…What’s the level of concern on McCarthy still struggling in the redzone and with certain types of throws? Do you think it reaches a level where it will limit the offense and make them too predictable?

A little. If there’s one area of the field where things move insanely fast and it could be tough for a quarterback who hasn’t had much experience, it’s the red zone. Plus they haven’t been great in that area over the last two years.

At the same time, we are talking about practice. Sometimes they are trying to accomplish something during a certain period of practice and it might not look great but that’s why they’re working on it. McCarthy is going to have a lot more support in the red zone than Darnold did last year. The offensive line is more violent and Jordan Mason is a difference maker when it comes to his power running. McCarthy won’t have it all on his shoulders.

Bradley P… Matthew, do you get as annoyed as a lot of us with the stupid “reporting” coming from Colin cowherd and Dianna Russini? Inferring that MN reporters are being soft on McCarthy is just plain lazy.

Over the last two years, we’ve heard that Jefferson was getting traded, KOC was getting traded, Kwesi was getting fired, Kirk was getting re-signed, Darnold was getting re-signed, Rodgers was coming here… I’m not sure the track record of the insiders is very good regarding this team. The way that a lot of things have been presented in the national media — in a far more dramatic fashion than what’s actually happening — is suspicious. Some of this reads like a person inside the building putting stuff out there that has some spin to it.

The frustration that I have is that I’d like football fans to get the correct information. I’ve seen every single OTA/minicamp/training camp practice of JJ McCarthy’s career and spent every day listening to KOC give us a masterclass on what he’s coaching and listening to his teammates talking about how they’re responding to him… and my big takeaway from all that is that he seems to be pretty well on track. Not Joe Montana but nowhere near falling apart or collapsing i.e. Kellen Mond. He has work to do and he’s flashed a lot of really good stuff in camp. He looks like he’s getting the command of the offense down and he’s refining the accuracy every day. He’s not going to be perfect right away.

The truth about McCarthy’s training camp isn’t that sexy. It’s coming along and some days are better than others. He’s been without Justin Jefferson, which is a massive factor in terms of “wow” plays that we see from the sideline. I wouldn’t change my expectation that they win double-digit games based on what I’ve seen.

Does that type of reporting get me a seven-figure contract at a media company? Apparently not. But it’s the truth. Just like I told you guys the truth that they weren’t trading Jefferson and Kwesi was going to sign an extension and all the other stuff. So

I’m pretty gosh darn comfortable with everything that I’ve reported and I don’t give a flying football what anybody who’s never been to a JJ McCarthy practice has to say about it.

Justin M… 2 things i’d love to hear you dig deeper on: 1) you’ve talked at length about the early success of the running game in practice, even with the 1st team line not fully intact. Is this only against the 2nd team D? Or is the run D potentially the chink in this Ds armor? We know the pass D looks very strong. 2) one guy I haven’t heard you give a camp update on is Harrison Smith. All-time legend no doubt, but almost retired last year and tread on the tires probably wearing thin. Is he still fast enough? Is he in the top 3rd of the league in safety play this year

1 — It’s always the question at camp, right? When one side of the ball is succeeding, is the other struggling? Yes, a good amount of reps come against the 2s but the 2s have good players and they’ve still run well against the 1s. That doesn’t mean that I think the first-team defense is going to get murdered on the ground though. It’s really how the operation is working in the run game. The O-line seems to be getting it and Jordan Mason looks like a beast. The fact that they are succeeding like this against a good defense makes me think the run game can be top-10 this year.

2 — Harry has looked like himself to me. At the same time, I can’t claim that my eye is sharp enough to be able to tell you if he’s still the exact same speed as last year or not. One thing I think about Harrison is that he understands who he is as a player these days. He’s not 2017 Harrison Smith. But he’s going to be in command of the defense as a communicator and he’s going to make plays when he has a chance without taking some of the risks and he’s going to use his deceptive abilities to mess with the opposing QB. That should still be a plus for the defense.

Joseph M… Question: do you think we may see more of TJ Hockinson, Josh Oliver and CJ Ham on the field at the same time during the Addison Suspension? and Wondering if you saw that CBS Sportline not giving much love to Viking player in their top 10 players at each position on Offense and Defense. Only Jefferson made their list as the #2 WR. No Darrisaw or Greenard, Van Ginkel or Cashman.

I definitely think that Oliver is going to play a lot. He has become an excellent player. He gets a ton of credit as a blocker but he has 44 catches at 10.7 yards per catch over the last two years. He has legitimate hands. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if McCarthy found him from time to time. Even when Hockenson came back last year, Oliver never played fewer than 30 snaps in a game so he’s definitely going to be out there. Plus Hockenson has taken around 50% of his snaps in the slot or outside since coming to MN.

I did not see the CBS Sportsline thing. Obviously Darrisaw and Greenard belong in the top 10 at their positions. We have the numbers to pretty clearly show that. I try not to get too worked up over anybody’s rankings.

Bradley P… How does JJ compare to other quarterbacks you’ve seen over your years of reporting on the Vikings. How does he compare to Sam at this point last year and Cousins in his first year prior to the first preseason game?

Sam Bradford had the best training camp of anyone I’ve covered and it’s not close. The 2017 camp for him was absurd. He threw the football so brilliantly. Velocity, touch, command of the offense… he looked like a franchise QB. Nobody was shocked when he started that season against New Orleans the way he did.

Kirk Cousins had his ups and downs through the years in camp. I thought 2019 was the camp where he most clearly looked like he was going to have a good season. He just understood that Stefanski/Kubiak offense so well because he’d grown up in that with Washington. The 2022 camp was pretty ugly because KOC was really pushing him out of his comfort zone. I believe the 2023 camp was really good for Kirk.

Last year, Darnold had things click right around the first preseason game. His joint practices were rough at times but after that he looked like he completely got the offense. Darnold’s throwing was also pretty incredible to watch, especially with Jefferson.

I haven’t had the “holy bleep” reactions to many McCarthy plays like I did with Sam and Sam. Some of that is him not having Jefferson. Some of that is him still developing his arm whereas those guys were long-established pros by then. I don’t think it’s crazy different from a lot of other years. The lows have been a little bit lower than with the vets but that’s to be expected right now.

Never Played Madden… If you still have that crystal ball. You see that JJ is hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Is it most likely 2026, 2027, 2028 or 2029?