Takeaways from Mike Zimmer's Zoom chat with TC media
Vikings' head coach talked about the perils of teaching from his ranch in Kentucky
*Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings*
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On Wednesday, Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer gave a full breakdown of all the things he has been doing at his ranch in Kentucky to stay busy. Aside from coaching through virtual meetings, he’s been riding four-wheelers, watching Chicago PD and hunting. Of course, he’d rather be in Minnesota coaching OTAs.
“I really miss being around the players,” Zimmer said. “Talking to them on the computer, the iPad or whatever, is not the same, because I want to get out there. I want to coach and correct them, teach them, try to build the camaraderie that we need as a football team…They're probably going to get an extra dose of me when they get back."
The Vikings aren’t unique in the challenges faced by the cancellation of OTAs and minicamp but in his 20-minute chat with the Twin Cities media, Zimmer laid out the ways in which they are trying to be ready if/when training camp begins. Let’s have a look at a few notable things he said…
Who will have the toughest time without hands-on coaching?
Clearly new players face much more of an uphill battle than veterans who have been in Zimmer or Kubiak’s system before so the Vikings are giving them videos of position-specific drills to work on. Zimmer used the example of the team laying out specific drops in coverage and responsibilities for linebackers. He acknowledged that if the player is doing something wrong in their home workouts, it’s hard to correct unless they send video back.
The fresh faces in the secondary like draft picks Jeff Gladney, Cameron Dantzler, Harrison Hand, Josh Metellus and Brian Cole have the uphill battle of adapting to a more complex system than they have ever seen before and without the benefit of early practice time against the types of receivers they will be asked to stop on Sundays.
“The defensive backs have a lot of stuff to do,” Zimmer said. “I’ve always had the opinion that you get better at covering when you’re covering somebody. It’s like playing basketball. If I play basketball every day, I’m going to get better at it. So it’s really hard when they’re by themselves and not able to work on the skill of covering a receiver. Receivers can run routes all day long and it’s pretty simple for them. Running backs, it’s pretty simple for them. But defensively because of the reactions and like I said earlier with defensive linemen taking on blocks, all those things become more difficult when you’re by yourself.”
Corners aren’t the only ones who will be missing the real-life reps that keep them sharp. There are many tiny details of the game that are implemented during May and June that can’t be repeated by studying the playbook or working out in the back yard or at a local park.
“We can talk to them about getting lined up and being in the right formation for plays and run the right route but having the timing with Kirk, hearing the cadence and all the different things to get ready to play and snap the ball,” Zimmer said. “Defensively it's a lot about reactions. If you are by yourself it's kind of hard to play a block when you're not being blocked and you don't have somebody in front of you. I would say there are difficulties at every position.”
Rebuilding the defense
At the NFL Combine, Zimmer compared his challenge this year to what he faced when he adopted the 32nd ranked defense back in 2014. After signing Michael Pierce and a draft that landed the Vikings two quality corner prospects in the first three rounds, Zimmer’s tone is a lot more optimistic about replacing Everson Griffen, Linval Joseph, Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander.
“It energizes us as coaches to try and get these guys up to speed as fast as we can,” he said. “It reminds me, honestly, of college when we had five defensive starters graduate and you've got young guys come in and you've got redshirt freshmen and you've got to get them ready to play, so that part kind of energizes us as coaches as far as, 'OK, let's figure out what this guy can do, how fast he can do it, and then how can we teach him the best way to be prepared to get out there and play?’”
Rookies will naturally be the main focus of our attention as we figure out how quickly Zimmer and staff can get the young defenders up to speed but their development of draft picks and UDFAs from 2017, 2018 and 2019 will be tested too. Can Armon Watts build on the promise he showed last year in a small sample? Will Holton Hill earn a starting job? Can Mike Hughes stay healthy and fulfill his potential? Will someone like Kris Boyd surprise us by earning a role? Can Ifeadi Odenigbo start in Griffen’s place?
The Zimmer era has a lot of development success stories like Danielle Hunter and Anthony Harris. He’ll need more if they’re going to be a quality unit again.
Side note: At the end of last year, Zimmer seemed pretty frustrated with the amount of scrutiny over the team’s 10-6 season. His tone on Wednesday was upbeat, considering the circumstances.
“The meetings have gone great,” Zimmer said. “And for me it's been really good because I have the offense go first, then special teams, then the defense goes. So I can click on a room and listen to the quarterbacks and wide receivers and then I can click a room and listen to the offensive lines or I can listen to whole group. Then I can go to special teams. Then I can go to the different positions on the defense. I've been really really impressed with our coaches and the way we've been teaching. The details that they're talking about. The concepts and the ideas of why we're trying to run this or why we're trying to run that.”
Will the Vikings try to schedule joint camp practices to help them get ready?
With sports appearing to trend toward eventually opening up later in the summer, the idea of training camp starting on time seems plausible. When camp does begin, it’s possible some teams will look to schedule joint practices with an aim to get themselves up to game speed. However, Zimmer is concerned about joint practices being tough to manage if there is a shortened time period for camp.
“Before all this happened I had a couple of teams call and ask if we'd want to practice together… The problem I foresee with having the joint practices is you may not be able to get your guys up to speed fast enough for what they have to do as opposed to worrying about another player,” Zimmer said. “If it gets down to it I can see there might be depending on how much time we have during training camp and before the games. I can possibly see having a one day practice against a team. I don't know I'd want to spend two or three days when we're trying to get our football team ready to play.”
The Vikings had joint practices with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2018, which went off without any type of hitch. Whether the Vikings decide to have them again could depend on the status of preseason games. Cancellations of preseason contests would increase the value of joint practices.
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Off topic, but what do you think of Fox’s decision to add the modern day version of a laugh track to the NFL games? I want to hear what’s going on on the field, not an added layer of phoniness. I think adding crowd noise and possibly crowd shots are desecrations to the game. So little is real on TV anymore. Don’t turn the NFL into another “reality show”.
Should be interesting Zimmer seems to "slow roll" his rookie CB's in, based on Waynes/Hughes. He might not have a choice this year. Although I'm guessing we'll see mostly Hughes/Hill/Boyd early in season. Or a vet yet to be on roster.