The Vikings' screen game can be JJ McCarthy's best friend

Plus notes on the injury report and Levi Drake Rodriguez's development

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings at least have some chance to have Christian Darrisaw and Harrison Smith in the lineup when they face off with the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Monday night.

Darrisaw is listed as questionable and Smith as doubtful for the opening contest of the year. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said that Darrisaw fully practiced over the last two days and that he earned a “conversation” about whether he’s going to be ready to play. The decision, KOC indicated, will depend on how his body responds to the last two days of practice. Darrisaw has been on track with his recovery from ACL surgery all offseason and missed only Thursday’s workout.

Smith has been ramping up from a health issue and only returned to practicing on a limited basis earlier this week. KOC said that he did more than expected on Saturday.

The only players ruled out are RB Zavier Scott and DT Elijah Williams.

On Chicago’s side, two key players’ statuses are up in the air. Linebacker TJ Edwards is doubtful and star CB Jaylon Johnson is questionable. Johnson would be the corner most likely to follow Justin Jefferson if he is ready to go.

In terms of JJ McCarthy’s preparedness for the game, KOC said:

“I'm encouraged across the board by the work JJ's put in,” O’Connell said. “I think he's had a really good week of practice….when you look at his work on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and today in the full speed settings and then the ownership and the understanding of what we're doing in the walkthrough settings, you can start getting to a place where you hope two plus two equals four.”

KOC added…

“I've told him many times, do everything you can leading into that ball getting kicked off and then him and I are going to be in this thing together along with a bunch of really talented teammates.”

The screen game

There’s an old football-y saying about the screen game: It can either be the penthouse or the outhouse.

To paraphrase, screen passing can often create easy, free yards for a quarterback with low degree of difficulty and high output or it can result in wasted plays that go nowhere and set the offense back.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on the penthouse side last year. Baker Mayfield led the NFL with 695 yards on 94 screen pass attempts for an average of 7.3 yards per attempt and produced five touchdowns, per PFF.While throwing the ball an average of 3.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage, Mayfield’s completion percentage on those plays was over 90% and his QB rating 110.8. Tampa picked up 31 first downs on screens. In total, 15% of Mayfield’s passes required almost no skill. That’s an upper Manhattan Highrise screen game.

The outhouse side of the equation was the Titans with QB Will Levis. While 13% of his passes were screens, they resulted in a putrid 3.9 yards per attempt and just seven of 45 tries gained a first down. If anyone needed an extra pick-me-up, it was Levis, yet the Tennessee offense couldn’t give it to him. Best of luck to Cam Ward this year if they don’t improve it.

That brings us to JJ McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings.

Every quarterback loves a good screen game but it’s particularly useful for young or inexperienced quarterbacks. For example, in 2023, the San Francisco 49ers averaged an absurd 8.8 yards per attempt on screens with Brock Purdy at the helm. The next best was rookie QB CJ Stroud at 7.0 YPA. Last year, Caleb Williams and Bo Nix made up two of the top three QBs in percentage of attempts that were screens. Williams had a 99.2 rating and Nix 107.8. Compare that to 83.7 and 88.4 ratings, respectively, when the rookie QBs were not throwing screens.

Last year the Vikings were OK when it came to executing screens. Sam Darnold ranked 15th in yards per attempt on screens and 15th in percentage of screen drop-backs. He was 13th in first downs created by screens. Ranking 15th in all those categories won’t do much to give McCarthy an extra boost.

There are ancillary benefits to a good screen game. Jones said that opposing defenses that are blitzing or playing aggressively off the edges have to think twice after they get hit with a big screen play.

“A good screen game opens up a lot of your offense,” right guard Will Fries said. “It doesn’t make you sit back and protect…and sometimes you get to hit someone a lot smaller than you. It can be pretty fun”

Admittedly, it’s tough to judge a screen game from training camp, but the Vikings appeared to have honed in on that aspect of the game. That was particularly evident when they executed a screen in joint practices against the Patriots that saw rookie Donovan Jackson bowl over several defenders to break Aaron Jones open for an explosive play. Improvements in the offensive line’s athleticism combined with Jones’ capabilities in the passing game give them the the tools needed for an effective screen attack.

“I was really encouraged by was the the details was the the little things that showed up in the moment of, hey, we've talked about this, we've emphasized some important aspects of the play and then the guys make it come to life,” O’Connell said on Saturday.

So what needs to happen in order for the Vikings to take their screens to the next level?

Fries says that starts before the play.

“Seeing the alignment, seeing the linebackers, seeing how they react to motion can tell you a lot of things about how they are going to react once the the screen gets into the ball carriers hands,” Fries said.

Once the snap happens, the O-line has to react quickly to how they are being played up front.

“Generally if you have a smart, instinctive group upfront they kind of figure out a way because there's a lot of [defensive] movement…[if] the defensive lineman twist or there's a blitz or whatever it might be, they [have to] figure it out,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said.

Once the ball is out of the QB’s hands and into the RB’s mitts, then it’s about everyone finding the right spots to set up the blocks for the runner.

“[Coaches] want us to know our landmarks and where we're going,” Jones said. “So it's almost like a train. It's on its tracks when the play gets going.”

No two screens are exactly alike, so players have to understand which defenders have a chance to make a tackle and the angles of where defenders are coming from.

“What I have seen is that's a play where you see some football intelligence come out of your group,” O’Connell said.

Once the play is in motion, that’s where it’s a little more jazz than classical. On most big screens, Jones has to do something special, even if that’s as simple as a millisecond of patience to set up a block. Last year, Jones averaged 6.3 yards per reception behind the line of scrimmage and he was over seven yards per catch in 2023.

“He makes the offensive line’s job a lot easier,” Fries said. “Making cuts off our blocks, he’s incredible. He’s not going down on first contact, and he’s such a dynamic playmaker with the ball.”

Whether the Vikings can take advantage of the talent they have up front and in the backfield versus Chicago’s defense will be on display on Monday night. It would be a very positive sign for McCarthy’s chances at moving the ball successfully if they can break off a few low-pressure, high-yardage plays in the screen game.

Levi Drake Rodriguez’s progress

Over the summer, one of the biggest developments on the roster was the improvement of the young defensive tackles. Jalen Redmond pushed himself to the front of the line behind Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen and 2024 seventh-round pick Levi Drake Rodriguez saw enormous gains in his training camp performance from his rookie year. Their growth along with rookie Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins’ emergence gave the Vikings the confidence to trade captain Harrison Phillips.

On Rodriguez, O’Connell said that he “flashed” as a rookie and showed some of the traits that got him drafted, but he’s taken those traits and built on them to become a more complete player.

“What he's done a really good job of is he's really starting to figure out how to apply that skill to all downs,” O’Connell said. “Be a tough guy to block, whether you're trying to double them, whether you're trying to single block them, whether you're trying to confuse him within different run schemes and angles and things like that. He's now applying a lot of those things to different aspects of his game.”

Rodriguez told Purple Insider this week that he made it his priority to get in NFL shape this offseason. He worked with his college strength coach at Texas A&M Commerce

“The biggest jump is from Year 1 to Year 2, that’s what I was hearing from a lot of vets and I really took that to heart,” Rodriguez said. “I worked on knowing the game more, practicing my moves, trying to get better at the run.”

In order to improve as a run stuffer, he set out to put on additional weight to become harder to move.

He put together a big-man cocktail with two-and-a-half cups of rice, venison, elk and 12 eggs.

Wait, a dozen eggs per day?

“A meal,” Rodriguez said. “That was a night cap. For breakfast it was eight eggs, hash browns, bacon.”

Twenty eggs per day?

“Yeah, I buy the big carton,” Rodriguez said.

His work paid off physically and technically in order to earn the trust of the coaching staff to be moved up the depth chart after a strong training camp.

“For them to see that, it’s really encouraging, but it comes with big responsibility,” Rodriguez said. “Stepping up into the role and doing the best I possibly can.”

The Vikings do not plan to play the veteran DTs on 100% of the snaps, meaning that Rodriguez is very likely going to be called upon in big spots against the Bears.

“We feel like We've got a really deep group that are going to be wearing Vikings uniforms on the D-line on Monday night and we're going to need them,” O’Connell said. “Hopefully the goal is we can keep our group as a whole fresh and keep the pressure and intensity on that other side by having real depth in the room.”

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