Friday Mailbag: Is the depth chart set? And pass blockin' questions remain

Vikings fans are ready for another preseason game and still have concerns over the blocking

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday everyone. Well, joint practices with the Titans are in the books and we have a bunch of developments to discuss so let’s get right into your questions…

@GeofftheJohnson Who is a former Viking you covered (could be retired or still playing) about whom you would like to write a profile piece focused on their “post-football” life? Could be someone you know is doing interesting stuff after the NFL, or someone you assume probably will!

Two players who I respected a great deal from the 2017 team were Terence Newman and Tom Johnson. Newman coached for just the one year but I wonder if he’ll ever try it again or not. Tom was such a smart guy and had a great mentality. I’m curious if he goes the coaching route with high school kids or something like that or gets into something different after his career. I’ll give you another guy I’d really like to find: Buster Rhymes. The player that the rapper was named after. I want to ask what he thinks of the rapper’s success with his name. If anyone knows where I can find him, let me know.

@KAAAAAHN_tk421 If the team doesn't spend any more of it's cap space on this year's roster, do you think the Wilfs will instead use the money to throw Vikings fans a giant pizza party? Hopefully 10mil is enough to get each of us at least one slice

I would guess they just carry it over to next year like everyone else but a pizza party sounds cool. Are you suggesting that they shouldn’t let that money burn a hole in their pockets??? It’s going to be a little odd if it just sits there and they don’t extend Hockenson or Jefferson and don’t sign anyone from free agency. Not that they absolutely have to do any of those things because Hock can be franchise tagged and Jefferson is under contract for another year but it would be better to avoid the tag or running the JJ situation into the final year. I’m less concerned about whether they sign a veteran than the extensions, though I think they’ll evaluate this week and decide if they need a guard, running back or corner.

@headcoach21 Who’s your odds on favorite head coach to get fired mid season??

My first pick would be Josh McDaniels but Mark Davis is paying Jon Gruden a lot of money to not coach so I’m wondering if he wants to give McDaniels as much time as possible. Will the new Commanders owners give Ron Rivera the whole year if he goes 1-7 to start the season? How about Brandon Staley? You can’t blow a 27-point lead in the playoffs and start 3-6 or whatever. Kevin Stefanski is also a candidate because their owner is going to take Watson’s side. Possibly Todd Bowles. I can’t see anyone else mid-season.

@CoreyHermanson how are you feeling after the 2nd annual kicking/punting competition we were promised was ruined?

Pretty crushed. We were told there was going to be a “punt off” last year and it never happened and now we don’t even get to pretend for another week that there is a kicking competition? Geez. You can’t always get what you want in this life. I’ve been talking and writing about Matt Daniels as a future head coach candidate and that hasn’t changed at all but if he robs me of one more specialist competition we’re going to have problems.

Kidding, obviously, but why was Jack Podlesny here so long if there wasn’t a competition? I’m sure the front office just needed a spot and he was the unfortunate fella that got the ax. He barely even kicked in camp.

@dantaylor26 Do you get a breakdown of how many and where your international listeners are, and are there any places which surprised you?

Yeah, I do have that. Shout out to those folks in Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden who listen. The one that surprised me was having over 1,000 downloads from Brazil. Also Jeff in Tokyo, a regular Friday Mailbag question asker, is probably reading this as well.

@jrm531 Suppose you were doing a madden rating for the defense this far in to August in 2022, what would that rating have been? And 2023? I think regression in Win total is unavoidable, and regression in 1 score games also. Could this team be less lucky but also better than last years?

They would have gone into the summer with about a 75 Madden rating on defense (remember, I’m from the Madden era where they didn’t make every team’s ranking super high so nobody gets mad online). I’d bump it up to maybe an 82 right now. I still have questions about the secondary and whether they can pressure outside of blitzes but overall it’s been a positive camp for the D.

It’s not exactly the answer to your question but the one-score game thing keeps coming up and I keep pushing back on the idea that all the one-score games were luck driven. Out of all the one-score games, maybe four had major random elements like a 61-yard field goal or Taylor Heinicke throwing a hilariously bad interception for no reason but a lot of them were games the Vikings outplayed opponents and let them stay in the game and then made plays at the end to win. I didn’t see those wins as super random. Regression could come from other things beyond luck, like not having Patrick Peterson and Za’Darius Smith to step up in those moments and a couple fewer game-winning drives.

But the overall answer is yes. The weird thing is that they could definitely play better despite less talent on defense and still end up losing more if they don’t get those few game-winning drives.

The schedule being more challenging might play into regression too. Same deal there. They could be a stronger team and end up with fewer wins because the competition was harder. They faced a LOT of bad QBs last year.

@alexjjlarsen Which non-QB position relies most heavily on football IQ vs pure athleticism? How is that affecting camp depth chart battles?

The first answers that come to mind are center and linebacker. Especially with defenses doing all sorts of exotic stuff with blitzes, centers have to set the protection and be on the same page with the quarterback on every play. Linebackers are getting attacked from everywhere. They are the run stuffers, coverage men over the middle, every play-action pass is designed to mess with them. It’s crazy how much is going on for them. There’s only a few truly excellent linebackers and it’s like finding gold when you have one. Underrated IQ position is defensive tackle. Stuff happens FAST on the interior and those guys have to read a lot in an eyeblink.

@tadfundermann Sounds like they haven't offered Risner a contract at all, but do you think if Ingram has another rough game (albeit preseason) this Saturday, do they finally try to sign him? Or is this the O-line for the season barring injury?

These two practices were huge for evaluation and it’s getting pretty close to the season so if it’s going to happen it has to happen soon. That goes for O-line, running back and cornerback. If Ingram is playing after a super physical week of practice, that says something. I’d be surprised if he did.

@Heat_Vikings What is the issue with DeWayne McBride? Still hurt? Lack of explosion post injury? Just not good? Based on college tape he should have made the RB camp battle interesting, instead they're bringing in washed RBs

We just know too much about the NFL Draft these days. A guy gets taken out of UAB in the seventh round and immediately he’s got a highlight tape that makes him look like Bo Jackson out there on Twitter and his college coach saying he’s the next great superstar and by the time we reach camp there’s an expectation that the guy is going to set the NFL ablaze right away. I’d guess that 90% of seventh-round running backs get cut or play special teams. Right now he doesn’t look to me like an NFL player but we’re going to have to give it some time and see if something clicks. I don’t think there’s much to see in the autopsy of a seventh-rounder who isn’t crushing it right away.

@Uff_Dumb Would you rather cover an average player with a great personality or a great player with the personality of a roof shingle?

An average player with great personality is going to give me a lot more insight and that’ll be pretty helpful in understanding what’s going on and that player is going to have interesting narratives about their ups and downs along the way. All that is compelling from my perspective. But greatness is so unfathomably rare and unique in football that I could write about it all day every day. I’ll just find other people to talk about the great player.

@Mud_is_my_name Does Hockenson break either of the following Vikings TE receiving records? Catches - 83 by Kyle Rudolph 2016 Yards - 1004 by Joe Senser 1981

Great question. I do think he can clear 83 receptions. The 1,004 yards might be harder. From what we saw last year he was more of a security blanket for Cousins than a downfield threat. If he only averages 10 yards per catch, it’s going to take an insane season to get to 1,000 yards. I wouldn’t count it out though.