The Rundown: Interior D-line development, outside zone runs and throwing with anticipation
The Vikings' coordinators talked on Tuesday about the big win over Cincinnati and what's next
By Matthew Coller
EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings are coming off one of their biggest wins in terms of scoring margin in team history. Here’s what coordinators Brian Flores, Wes Phillips and Matt Daniels were talking about on Tuesday as they broke down the victory and looked forward…
Redmond and Rodriguez
When the Vikings traded Harrison Phillips to the New York Jets, it was pretty clear evidence that they believed in two younger players that were behind him on the depth chart: Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez.
Through three games, Redmond has played 104 snaps and Rodriguez 79 snaps. Redmond is halfway to his snap total from 2024 already and Rodriguez only saw a handful of snaps in one game last season.
Both players are earning their snap counts. After exceptional performances against Cincinnati, Rodriguez has a 75.7 PFF grade and Redmond 72.6, including six QB pressures. Those grades are both in the top 30 in the NFL among starting and part-time defensive tackles.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores talked about their development since arriving last season.
“I think both guys are still in that development phase,” Flores said. “When you talk about developing a player, a lot of that falls on the player, you know. Is he training the right way? Is he eating the right way? Mow does he meet? How does he walk through? And as a staff, we kind of have some checkpoints, I would say, as far as things we see in meetings and walk through and practice, if they're hitting those markers, then this guy's got a chance to develop. I would say Red and Levi both have hit a lot of those markers.”
The rotation with the two young players along with Ty Ingram-Dawkins has allowed Flores to take pressure off his two star interior D-linemen Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen.
“[Redmond and Rodriguez] had the intelligence, they had the physical attributes, they had the things you need to develop,” Flores said. “And they were going to work hard enough to do it. Ultimately, that's what we're talking about. Both of these guys, it's very important to them. So they'll do what it takes to get every little bit out of their bodies that they can. I think you're seeing that on the field on Sundays Right.”
Redmond and Rodriguez are grading highly against the run in particular, which will be vital for the Vikings going forward as they eventually face off with opponents like the Eagles, Lions and Ravens who dominate on the ground.
Jordan Mason and the outside zone system
On Sunday, the Vikings made a change with their run scheme. After two weeks of splitting gap scheme and zone runs, they leaned heavily on the outside zone game. Per PFF, Jordan Mason ran 12 zone runs to only four gap scheme runs.
That may have had to do with the opponent but it also matches up with Mason’s history with the San Francisco 49ers. Last year under Kyle Shanahan, he was used in zone 110 times to 41 gap-scheme carries.
You can see from this NFL NextGEN chart how many of Mason’s runs clicked for big gains to the edges.
As you can see, he gained 47 yards over expected, the second most in the NFL in Week 3. During his runs, Mason appeared very comfortable with making decisions about when to cut up field and when to keep pushing to the edge.
Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips explained why Mason is so good at executing outside zone plays.
“He understands the scheme,” Phillips said. “He's obviously been kind of brought up in it. I think he's pretty good in just about any scheme, but he does understand that aspect.”
Phillips went into more detail about the way Mason sees the blocking in front of him.
“Understanding who has the hard block, I’ve got to press this block, set that thing up before I cut up, or else his defender is going to fall back inside faster,” Phillips explained. “You're really setting those second level linebackers and bringing them to the combinations. If you cut back too early, they're going to fall back. So he's got a knack for that. And then when he gets his pads going downhill, he's a load.”
Through three games, Mason has been a tough player to tackle. He is averaging 3.5 yards per attempt after contact. He is also second in the NFL in runs of more than 10 yards.
The Vikings may have a bigger challenge with their outside zone run game without Donovan Jackson in the coming weeks. He showed an exceptional ability to reach defensive tackles and create room for Mason to run.
“That's something [Jackson] actually improved on,” Phillips said. “I don't know how much wider zone runs they really ran in college. And early on, like a lot of young players, he was kind of short on a lot of those blocks. But that's the kind of player he is. He's smart. He learns quickly. And he's going to keep improving with the more football he plays.”
Carson Wentz’s comfort
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