Vikings' lack of defensive depth is on the verge of getting exposed

Minnesota's secondary and defensive line have lost their most important pieces

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By Sam Ekstrom

ZOOM — Monday’s news of Danielle Hunter’s season-ending torn pectoral brings us back to September, when Mike Zimmer gave an honest assessment about his team’s depth.

“It’s concerning,” Zimmer said. “I feel really good about the top guys, and then some of these young guys got to come on. But when you’re kind of top-heavy with finances, that’s what you’ve got to do. Hopefully we’ll stay healthy and try to get these younger guys better.”

Using the phrase “hopefully” about anything health-related in the NFL can only be chalked up to wishful thinking. Hunter is the latest in a sudden rash of high-profile injuries that are depleting the Vikings defense. It’s 2020 deja vu, and it’s Zimmer’s worst nightmare.

“I don’t think you replace [Hunter],” Zimmer said Monday. “He’s one-of-a-kind.”

Losing Hunter, Patrick Peterson (hamstring) and Michael Pierce (elbow) — three of the most expensive and valuable pieces on the defense — is unfortunate for a team that had high hopes, but injuries in the NFL are both indiscriminate and inevitable. And it’s not apparent that the Vikings are ready to handle them.

Despite Zimmer’s efforts to take it easy on his veterans in the preseason and reduce the wear and tear on them in practice, injuries to three of their most important starters are set to reveal (and frankly, have already revealed) what Zimmer was concerned about two months ago.

“I think some of the guys that played last night have got to play better, yeah,” Zimmer said on Monday.

That includes D.J. Wonnum, who will seemingly be thrust back into his original starting role at defensive end in Hunter’s absence. Wonnum has the second-fewest pressures of any NFL edge rusher that has 300 or more snaps, and he had previously surrendered his starting job to a resurgent Everson Griffen. The veteran that Wonnum originally beat out, Stephen Weatherly, was traded last week to the Denver Broncos.

That’s not the only trade the Vikings might be ruing at the moment. As Cameron Dantzler and Bashaud Breeland struggled to prevent completions from Cooper Rush Sunday night — allowing 199 yards combined in coverage — former Viking Mike Hughes is enjoying a strong comeback season with the Kansas City Chiefs after getting dealt for next to nothing before the season. Hughes ranks 29th of 125 corners and has five games out of seven allowing fewer than 30 yards. Dantzler, meanwhile, ranks 55th and Breeland 94th.

All that to say, the Vikings exacerbated their own depth problem.