Friday mailbag: Reading the early signs of camp

The Vikings are about to hit the dog days of camp... what do we know about them so far?

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday everyone! It feels like camp is just starting to get rolling and the next week or so should tell us quite a lot about where everyone stands. Let’s dive into your questions….

Brian K… What, if any, changes to the running scheme have you seen this year?

I’d have to be a pretty brilliant football mind to identify differences in the scheme after two padded practices. I appreciate that you think that much of my X’s and O’s knowledge. What I can say is that Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler have looked very good so far. Jones hasn’t taken a ton of full speed reps, which makes sense, and Chandler’s burst didn’t go anywhere in the offseason. One thing I noted was the presence of runs outside the tackles. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Jones and Chandler working the edges more than Mattison did last season.

Whether it succeeds or not will come down to Jones’ health and the interior of the offensive line. Blake Brandel is a huge man who looks like he can move bodies in the run game better than Risner did last year but we won’t really know until we see it in action.

Mike B…Have you noticed a specific timeshare in the RBs so far? Is AJ getting all the reps? Is Ty Chandler working on his pass blocking?

Chandler needs more work than Jones so he’s taking more reps. Kene Nwangwu has been getting a good amount of work too, though I wouldn’t expect him to be used unless they need him. I can’t say I’ve seen anything that would qualify as an indicator of how they’re going to split the runs in the regular season. They all work on pass protection but getting a sense for someone’s improvement in camp would be pretty difficult. Maybe during the joint practices and preseason games opponents will send some blitzes and we can see him react. Otherwise if we notice it in practice, that’s probably not a great sign.

Pete… Do we have any idea of how well JJ is doing in comparison to Penix and Nix who both went around the same time in the draft. I know the three teams have different strategies for their QB position but wondered if we can get a feel for how JJ is doing Skol from the UK

I’ve only vaguely seen some reports about how other guys are doing. The sense that I’ve gotten from each is…. Nix is working with the first team and seems to be doing alright. Maye is having a tough time because his team is horrendous. I doubt Penix is getting a ton of reps but I haven’t read up on it. Williams is flashing crazy arm talent and working through his own rookie struggles. Everything I’ve seen on Daniels has been pretty positive.

Here’s what I would keep in mind as we go through the next few weeks: Peyton Manning faced Ryan Leaf in the preseason after both players were drafted and Leaf wiped the floor with Manning.

As a society we can’t even agree on whether certain proven QBs like Tua or Lawrence or good. We are definitely not going to decide prior to the start of this year which team got the best of the 2024 picks.

Randy S….With so much focus on the mega deals some players are signing lately, does it make sense the Vikings sign our DC Brian Flores to a mega deal to keep him as part of the team for years to come? It seems that as long as he is on the sidelines, the defense has a chance to keep the Vikings in the game, especially considering injuries that have plagued the team lately. I know he may have a goal of being a head coach again but maybe the $$$ and stability will help him stay here longer.

After what we saw this offseason from the way the NFL shut out Flores from any interviews despite over performing over expectations, I don’t think any outside-the-box measures will be required to keep him. He seems to be happy here and Kevin O’Connell seems to be happy to have him here. I would guess they are giving him a very competitive amount of money to stick around. It just seems like a few teams did interviews with him before he became the Vikings DC so he would have less ammo for his lawsuit and once they did that they went into blackball mode. Maybe if the Vikings go the NFC Championship on the strength of their defense then it will happen, I’m not sure. He’s certainly deserving.

Evan… If SB windows are so short (unless you’re KC), do you think the Lions’ window be closing as the Vikings’ window is opening? Or will they be able to work around their huge contracts in a couple years and the entire NFC North will be contending at the same time?

The Vikings are certainly hoping so but I don’t think it’s going to time up that nicely. The Vikings are looking for their window to “open” next season. If JJ McCarthy is good and they spend on the roster then they could have a very dangerous team. But I wouldn’t expect the Lions to fade quickly. In 2026, Goff is scheduled to get a lot more expensive but all these deals are set up to be restructured and cut down enormous cap hits. The other players like St. Brown and Sewell start getting expensive in 2026 too but they’ll still have recent draft picks on rookie contracts and they’ll be able to push all the cap buttons to extend their window as much as they can. I’d say the Lions probably have three years with the majority of this roster.

That along with Love’s strong play last year and the Bears picking Williams is exactly why the Vikings made the right call in moving on from Cousins and drafting McCarthy. They wouldn’t be able to compete having limited cap space to spend when every NFC North team has an argument for being a Super Bowl contender over the next few years.

Kyle S…. Duke Shelley has familiarity with some of his teammates and coaches but hasn’t played in Brian Flores’ defense. How valuable is that familiarity for him, or someone such as Anthony Barr last year, when adjusting to a new system?

Think of it like playing jazz bass and playing a new song with a new band. If you are a pro’s pro jazz bassist, you’ll be able to look at the music and mostly understand what’s going on pretty quickly even if you don’t have the chemistry yet and you haven’t really mastered the sheet music. Guys like Shelley and Barr know how defense works. They need to know the language and the wrinkles and unique rules that each DC deploys but even a mad scientist like Brian Flores is still using cover-0, 1, 2, 3, etc.

Howard…. 1) What is the timescale for the Flores lawsuit against the NFL – I ask because I assume we will lose him after that action concludes since he is clearly a D genius ? 2) I think our window to really go deep in the playoffs is open from next year (not this season) – why am I wrong about that? 3) the best books I’ve read about American football recent times are your own PFF By the Numbers, and Slow To get Up by Nate Jackson.  What would you recommend for my reading list on flights across the Atlantic this autumn? 

1 - I’ve heard no timetable on the lawsuit. The NFL tried to get it dismissed in January and a judge said no. I definitely would not assume that the Vikings will lose him after that. You’d be safer assuming that the fact Flores hasn’t backed away from it means that he’s unlikely to get a head coaching job again, as sad as that is.

2 - The Vikings window to win is open next year if JJ McCarthy is good quickly. It’ll be good in two years if that’s when he’s good. It’ll not be open at all if he isn’t good. Barring some type of crazy Brock Purdy scenario, the nature of the league is that the QB you draft dictates your opportunity to win. The Chiefs and Bills’ windows to win are every year that Mahomes and Allen suit up. Some teams get a few shots with good QBs like Philip Rivers or Eli Manning. Some teams get only one shot with a QB like Jalen Hurts. It’s unbelievably hard to be the 49ers, who have maintained an incredible roster to the point they can extend a window through two QBs.

3 — Thanks for reading my book! If anybody else wants to check it out, click here. If you’re looking for something super deep football, The Genius of Desperation by Doug Farrar is good. Smart Football by Chris Brown is a classic. I also enjoyed Bruce Arians’ book QB Whisperer and Bruce Feldman’s Making of a Quarterback.

Evan…. What is the biggest adjustment the Vikings have to or should make on offense with the departure of Kirk Cousins this year and have you seen it in training camp so far?

The mobility of the quarterbacks is very, very different. Just as an example: Opponents started running edge players up field at Kirk on bootlegs because he couldn’t escape but Darnold and McCarthy can. They might be able to put in some designed runs for certain looks. There could be some windows that Kirk wasn’t comfortable trying to fit the ball where they can ask these guys to do it because of their arm strength. Overall though I think KOC believes his offense works if it’s run correctly so I wouldn’t expect super noticeable differences.

Scott M….Not many days in pads yet but anyone of the bubble players in the trenches (on both sides of the ball) standing out: Levi Drake Rodriguez, Gabriel Murphy, Walter Rouse, Andre Carter, etc. ? Who's your 'Way Too Early Mr Mankato' pick?