By Matthew Coller
Coming out of halftime, the Minnesota Vikings were trailing 7-6 to the New Orleans Saints when rookie Jake Golday made a game-changing play.
On the opening kickoff of the third quarter, he punched the ball free from the Saints’ returner and it was recovered by receiver Jeshaun Jones.
A few plays later, Kyler Murray dropped a dime between three defenders to Justin Jefferson in the back of the end zone to put the Vikings up 13-7.
“It was honestly very rewarding and just like a huge relief to finally make a big play that impacts the team,” Golday told Purple Insider on Wednesday.
Normally with a second-round draft pick, we wouldn’t only be talking about a key special teams play. Usually teams draft players in the first two rounds with expectations that they can make an impact right away on offense or defense but Golday’s situation is unique. The multi-faceted linebacker is behind four players on the Vikings defense who have driven the team’s 5-0 start with the No. 1 defense in the NFL in points allowed.
So heading into this weekend’s matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, Golday has a grand total of seven defensive snaps.
But he has 95 special teams snaps and he’s already made significant strides in his development.
“I think you can just tell big time from week one to where I am now,” Golday said. “I’m just getting the flow of the game down and the speed of the game, just understanding the scheme within the special teams. It not just a bunch of guys running down the field and trying to make a tackle. There’s a scheme within it. And knowing all these different techniques is helping me become a better player.”
The return of the kickoff play has not only made the value of impact tacklers on special teams skyrocket from previous years where the kickoff had become irrelevant, it is giving young players like Golday an opportunity to perform very similar duties to what he would do defensively.
“Kickoff and punt simulates getting up and blocked and going to make a tackle, and that’s basically our job description as linebackers and his defense,” Golday said. “So, when you’re five yards apart on this new kickoff, you’re basically simulating the tight end climbing up to you [on a run play], and you’re trying to make a move and go make a tackle on the back in the backfield. Same thing, it all correlates.”
Golday is currently PFF’s No. 2 graded special teamer, playing regularly on every unit except field goal block. That’s particularly impressive because, per PFF, he played only 174 special teams plays between 2024 and 2025 with the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Knowing that there was a good chance that special teams is where he would make his biggest impact in Year 1, Golday worked closely throughout the offseason with special teams coach Matt Daniels.
“When I first got here, I was just kind of a raw athlete out there, just kind of just trying to run down there and make plays,” Golday said. “But once he got behind me and coached me up on the scheme of things and techniques, I feel like the level that I’m playing, especially going against vets…that wouldn’t be possible if I wasn’t going to meetings with Coach [Daniels] and spending time with him.”
For a special teams coach, getting a second-round talent who is 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, runs a 4.6 40-yard dash with a 39-inch vertical jump is pretty rare. Daniels was naturally excited to have him on his unit but it’s never clear how much buy-in that the high draft pick is going to have when assigned to the dirty work. Daniels explained that Golday has
“You can just watch the play from Week 1 to Week 5, just in terms of understanding where a block’s coming from, how do I own my leverage? How do I need to attack this particular player?” Daniels said. “You can just see the confidence within this player growing week to week. For him to be able to go make that punch out coming out of the half was huge for us. And his trajectory is only going to get... exponentially bigger week to week.”
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said that the team saw signs early in training camp that Golday could be a difference-making special teamer and they are seeing it come to fruition. And KOC sees the reps that he’s getting now on ‘teams paying off down the road if he is called upon on defense.
“Maybe because of how healthy we’ve been on defense, we haven’t been able to really see the impact yet but all of these snaps are contributing to him hopefully having confidence when he does get in there a little more on defense as the season goes on,” O’Connell said. “Hopefully he continues to rise to being a guy I think our opponents are talking about. We call them ‘red dots,’ the guys that are truly impactful in the kicking game that you’ve got to know where they are and account for him and I think he’s really you know becoming one of those players.”
Under O’Connell and Brian Flores, the Vikings have been very comfortable developing draft picks on special teams and taking a longer-term approach. Even first-rounder Dallas Turner played 358 special teams snaps over his first two seasons as he was learning the NFL behind Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.
Flores not only has the patience to develop players on special teams, it’s also part of his own background. In 2008, he was a special teams assistant for the New England Patriots and spent three years on that phase of the game before becoming a defensive assistant in 2011.
“From experience in my career, I think it’s the kicking game is where young players learn the speed of the game….it’s a long, fast play,” Flores said. “I think you take your lumps in that phase because things are happening fast. You could be up one second and down on the next because somebody hit you. I think you learn a lot about the speed of the game, the physicality of the game. I think a lot of times there’s a lot of schematics and a lot of things that young players aren’t necessarily exposed to in college.”
Flores said that if players make plays in the kickoff phase, it can usually translate over to defense. He wants his developing linebacker and others on Daniels’ unit to understand that they are paying attention.
“When a guy makes a play or is playing well in that phase….how do we find a role for him defensively?” Flores said. “Looking down the road, it’s, ‘this guy can play, he’s making plays in this phase. How do we get him to make plays in our phase?’”
Flores’ defense is stacked with former special teamers, some of whom still attend the ‘teams meetings. Josh Metellus, Eric Wilson, Theo Jackson, Andrew Van Ginkel, Isaiah Rodgers and Blake Cashman were all predominantly special teamers at one point their career.
“I could be a little biased because I’ve spent a lot of my career playing special teams, it’s something I’ve always taken a lot of pride in,” Cashman said. “I think if you’re making plays on special teams, you deserve to get an opportunity on defense. And I know Flo feels the same way. Goldie’s doing everything the right way. He’s already handling himself like how an all-pro would with his preparation and his routine through the week, and he just continues to do things the right way, and that’s going to continue to find a bigger role for him on the field.”
Cashman also pointed to the speed in which things happen on the kickoff play as something that helps with the adjustment for young players from college to the NFL.
“You have to cover a lot of ground and I think if you can be a good tackler on special teams when you’re going against fast returners with a lot of space and you have to eat up that that space to close the gap on a ball carrier it’s only going to help you when you’re closer to the ball like playing in the box,” Cashman explained.
As the season goes along, we should expect to see more of Golday because of the impression that he’s making on the coaching staff. Over the last two weeks, the Vikings’ offense has been on the field for around two-thirds of the game, which has limited the number of snaps that can go to rotational players. But as they go forward against teams like Detroit, Buffalo, Green Bay and San Francisco, depth is likely to be needed.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
A positive injury report
The Vikings have had a slew of injuries on offense to open the season. On Wednesday, a number of those banged-up players were back at practice following the bye week. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw, tight end TJ Hockenson, wide receiver Jordan Addison and running back Jordan Mason were all full participants.
Mason’s return is particularly of interest because the Vikings have needed to lean heavily on Aaron Jones over the last four games. Now they can return to the duo that they expected to have heading into the season.
“He’s one of those backs that gets better as the game goes on,” O’Connell said. “I think we’ll see that. Obviously, hopefully getting CD and TJ back in there will allow us to open up the full run game and be in a little bit more of attack mode. And then the marriage of all that with the pass game and the different phases of our offense.”
Cornerback Charles Demmings, who has been battling a hamstring injury, was also back at practice.
KOC on trades
The Vikings are in the driver’s seat in the NFC, which puts them at the forefront of trade conversations.
Will they make improvements to the roster or roll with their current group?
On Wednesday, O’Connell said that they are keeping the future in mind while looking to potentially upgrade.
“It’s talking about maybe some positions where there could be some not only good players available, but maybe some value there as well,” O’Connell said. “I know [GM Nolan Teasley] is really excited about where we’re at as a team right now, but if there’s a chance for us to get better…we’re going to have those conversations.”
O’Connell alluded to the conflict of being the coach of a 5-0 team and wanting the best possible version on the field while also understanding that Teasley is a first-year GM who is going to need assets into the future in order to build the next iteration of this team.
“It seems like it’s months and months and so many months away, but to give him a real powerful draft to be able to really put his imprint on this team, I think is important too,” O’Connell said. “We’re going to have to really gauge what’s best for our team in the present day, and that’s with a lot of confidence in our group. But also, it feels crazy to say this as the coach, I want to make sure that we’re as smart as possible.”