If his time is now, Bo Richter is going to be ready
Vikings special teams ace has seen a lot of work at outside linebacker this summer
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — One of the main training camp storylines surrounding the Minnesota Vikings is the battle for opportunities in the outside linebacker room. Who’s going to play behind Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner? Are they going to sign a free agent?
On Monday, defensive coordinator Brian Flores mentioned that one particular player is having a good camp so far: Special teams ace Bo Richter.
Flores’ words matched up with the reps as Richter saw a couple first-team chances and played most of practice as a second-team OLB.
The Vikings signed Richter in 2024 as an undrafted free agent from Air Force. He quickly showed in the preseason that he could make plays and then ended up playing 288 snaps on special teams. Last year he led the team in special teams snaps with 371, playing every rep on kick return, kickoff, punt return, punting and field goal block.
On defense, however, he’s only played 83 snaps between 2024 and 2025.
In college, Richter played inside linebacker until his final season. When he got a chance to rush the passer, he thrived with 10.0 sacks and 19.5 TFLs. By PFF, he graded as the seventh best edge player in college football in 2023, right behind Atlanta first-round pick James Pearce.
He went undrafted because he was a late riser as a sack artist and didn’t exactly fit the typical pass rushing specs. He’s only 6-foot-1 and he has the arm length of an accountant. But his pro day revealed athleticism that we have seen on the field thus far on special teams. He ran a 4.56 40-yard dash and had a 40-inch vertical.
Now he’s with a defensive coordinator who is famous for making misfit toys work brilliantly on his defense, whether that’s Josh Metellus becoming a hybrid big nickel player or Eric Wilson suddenly becoming a pass-rushing monster at age 31, Flores finds places for guys who can play.
Richter told Purple Insider on Tuesday that he is keeping a “fringe guy mentality” despite being in the mix for a potential role. This offseason he remained in Minnesota and worked out at TCO Performance Center.
Where Richter focused his attention on what he can do mentally to prepare for 2026. He wanted to sharpen his skills at the craft of pass rushing at the NFL level, where technique is usually king.
“The biggest in terms of taking the next step for me is…if I have my fastball move, my best move, when can I save that? When can I use that? Where it’s most likely they’re gonna result in production?” Richter said. “Understanding when to call pass rush games, snap counts, alignments, all stuff like that. There’s a ton of physical work that goes into it, but I feel like the place where I feel like the next step is going to come is above the neck.”
Above the neck is the place where players in Flores’ defense have to excel because they can be called upon to line up anywhere on the front seven at any time and his pass rush plans tend to create open rushing lanes as they confuse the offensive line. Over the last two years, Richter has closely studied the Vikings’ best veteran rushers, Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.
“JG knew his plan going against each tackle every week, he knew how he wanted to rush,” Richter said. “So I gleaned some knowledge off that. And then Gink, he has a lot of a lot of pass rush ability, but there’s a lot of ways that guys don’t really see, like, there’s ways to impact the game that aren’t necessarily standard, and I’d say he’s a very non-standard playmaker at times.”
Richter understands that he doesn’t have the same size as Greenard or Van Ginkel so he has to adapt his game to make it work as a shorter rusher.
“You just gotta be able to shed blocks differently and there’s different ways to solve every problem and shedding blocks is one of them,” Richter said. “With pass rush, there’s stuff that [players with long arms] can get away with that I necessarily can’t. You need to be a little bit more disciplined.”
Other players have taken notice of the way that Richter has worked on his craft in order to have an opportunity to carve out a role.
“He’s made a lot of plays on special teams, and it reminds me of my younger years,” Van Ginkel said. “I didn't get as many opportunities on defense, but every time I went out there on special teams and I was doing whatever I could, make a play. …I see a lot of me in him. How he attacks every day. He's good with learning, he's excited, he does all the right things in the weight room and the training room…He's just one of those guys that does the right thing, and eventually, it's gonna pay off for him.”
Whether it’s pays off this year will present itself in the coming weeks. Richter is not alone in the competition as former undrafted players like Tyler Batty and Chaz Chambliss have also seen a lot of work at the position.
“We are all sharing and trying to get each other better, we have a great room,” Richter said. “Everybody knows it’s a cut throat business but it’s almost like we’re fighting honorably. We’re trying to take the job and I want to win it. I don’t want to steal it. I want to win it. So it’s like we’re all helping each other out.”
As camp ramps up and preseason games come along, Richter’s progress at OLB will be something to watch closely.
I would love to see him succeed. I wish him the best this season.
It warms my heart to see a fellow Air Force veteran achieve a position in the NFL. Aim high, Bo! You’ve got this…