Vikings Camp Journal: Day 6

JJ McCarthy had his first tough practice and Dwight McGlothern made a play for the second straight day

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — The Vikings held their sixth training camp practice of the year at TCO Performance Center on Tuesday, let’s get into everything that happened…

What I heard

The team had an interesting moment at the end of Monday’s first padded practice that Kevin O’Connell addressed on Tuesday. It was a final-drive type situation where the defense was so dominant up front that McCarthy basically couldn’t even get a throw off.

O’Connell said that he and Flores walked the team through their philosophy as play callers when it came to those end-of-half, end-of-game or “middle eight” type moments that can swing games.

“I really got into the weeds on all the things going through my head as the play caller,” O’Connell said. “What's going through Flo’s [Brian Flores] head combined, how we pair our mentalities to then call the games in those situations. What does the risk assessment and management look like? How aggressive do we want to be? It's got to be in total lockstep for us to then pair a good middle eight portion of the game together. From a coaching landscape of being the head coach, not necessarily offensive coordinator, it was a great day for me yesterday. Offense made some plays, defense made a lot of plays, and the Vikings got better.”

For the record, O’Connell said that McCarthy did the right thing not throwing the ball. When the QB gets “immediate duress,” it’s often better to take a sack than making things worse.

With the talk of camp being the performance of the defensive line, O’Connell singled out Jonathan Greenard as having a noticeable edge to him during the opening days of camp.

“I am very excited about that group and it's not just the new players, it’s Jonathan Greenard,” O’Connell said. “I don't know how many times you guys have talked to him yet early on here in camp, but he's turned it up a notch….I told JG [Jonathan Greenard], if he wants to take the next month off, that's okay with me”

In terms of players adding to the nastiness of the defense, DT Jonathan Allen has looked like a handful for the interior offensive line. I asked him about playing in a 3-4 base and how that might be different from previous defenses.

“3-4 base you are definitely more react and then attack but it’s really hard to say what type of scheme we run around here because we run so many different schemes,” Allen said. “One day it’s 3-4, the other day it’s 4-3. Everyone knows Coach Flo is a mastermind when it comes to that, he’s an evil genius. We’re going to have a lot on our plate but that’s what makes this team versatile.”

Has Allen ever played on a defense with as many moving parts as Minnesota?

“Not even close,” he said.

Allen isn’t new to Minnesota as a state because his agent is based in Minneapolis and he flew here multiple times a year but when it comes to learning the ropes of the defense and getting comfortable, he said that he has leaned on veteran DT Harrison Phillips.

“It’s invaluable, his ability to help on the field or off the field, any questions I have, everything,” Allen said. “Every team wants a team like him.”

One other note on the defensive side, O’Connell said he expects to see Isaiah Rodgers back in practice after missing Day 1 of pads with “soreness.”

Wolves fans, insert your “General Soreness” jokes.

The wide receiver position is going to be under the spotlight in the coming days as the practices continue to heat up. O’Connell explained Lucky Jackson getting the majority of the first-team reps in Justin Jefferson’s absence

“I think it shows that [Jackson] can step in for us in many ways and take the positional reps that Justin [Jefferson] will be taking,” O’Connell said. “I think it says a lot about Kee [Keenan McCardell] and Tony's [Sorrentino], Wes [Phillips] and my self’s trust in him. This is a guy that does everything the right way, everything in his control to become the best player he can become. Just happens to be in a very deep receiver room, but he's getting some opportunity right now for sure.”

O’Connell also mentioned Jeshaun Jones again along with Rondale Moore as players in the mix for those coveted reps.

The biggest “winner” of Jefferson missing time has been Jalen Nailor. He has made an number of catches from McCarthy over the last few days and seems to be quickly becoming a player he can trust.

“I think Jalen Nailor is having a great camp,” O’Connell said. “I showed the team three or four clips last night that can sometimes go unnoticed, guys just doing their job in that inside position that many cast of characters over the years have made real famous just doing their job from the slot in this system. Speedy [Jalen Nailor] is having a great camp picking up right where he left off in the in the spring.”

Speaking of Jefferson, he has been an enthusiastic non-participant, standing behind the plays and giving support and sometimes feedback during plays. O’Connell said that even when the offense struggled on Monday, he was encouraging them to get the defense back the next time they put pads on.

“That was my challenge to him is there's a lot of ways we can maximize this time as one of our captains, a guy that sets the tone in this building, and he is knocking it out of the park,” O’Connell said. “Rehab is going really well, already progressing, so could end up being a blessing in disguise in a lot of ways, where Justin's mentally preparing and engaging with his teammates.”

One of the concerns about Jefferson missing time is the lost reps that he and McCarthy could have been building chemistry but O’Connell said that QB1 and WR1 are spending this time behind the scenes instead.

“You see it in meeting rooms, even in the install today, dialog between those two guys post practice, Justin being out there in real time as we continue to work through the progression of our install,” O’Connell said.

What I saw

The Vikings were in shells and several veterans had days off, including Ryan Kelly, Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen and Harrison Smith. You might think that the combo of missing D-linemen and less physical play would have made for an easy practice for the offense but that wasn’t exactly the case.

They largely did situational work. The red zone period did not go particularly well for McCarthy as he just missed Jordan Addison twice on slight overthrows. He also had a pass to Addison broken up by Jeff Okudah and overthrew Josh Oliver, which isn’t exactly easy to do. McCarthy did find Addison for a touchdown before the drill was over.

It was a reminder that we are still early in camp. Red zone work takes anticipation and precision from the QB more than a routine 11-on-11 where he can find wide open receivers. Everything is in tight windows inside the 20. That will be something McCarthy has to build on over the rest of camp.

On the day there were still several good throws, in particular a perfectly-timed play-action pass over the middle (15-20 yards) to Addison. McCarthy has looked remarkably comfortable any time he’s running play-action. It seems the footwork comes naturally to him. Or it might be the reps from playing in Jim Harbaugh’s offense. He also completed a swing pass to Aaron Jones that led Jones nicely up field but then overthrew Jordan Mason.

McCarthy is still getting the total feel for touch passing. Sometimes it has looked very good and others it has looked like a golfer who just took a chipping lesson and is feeling his way through the technique.