Vikings rookie defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins said something you rarely hear in an NFL locker room following Saturday’s 20-12 preseason loss to the Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium.
He agreed with an analysis that was critical of his game.
This observer, watching the big fella’s 36 snaps closely from the press box, kinda agreed with the following line NFL.com wrote before the draft while listing this 22-year-old behemoth-babe-in-the-woods lineman’s weaknesses:
“Gets too caught up in initial battles with blockers.”
The 6-5, 276-pouder with thick arms longer than a preseason game feels looked up, raised an index finger and thankfully didn’t clobber this observer for raising the subject.
“That,” Ingram-Dawkins said, “actually is the biggest truthful thing I’ve seen in all the analysis of my game. All the other stuff was just talk, but that’s a very true statement. I do get caught up in the initial contact, but it’s something I’ve been working on a lot here, and I’m getting better.”
Ingram-Dawkins, a fifth-round draft pick out of Georgia, is one of the more intriguing young Vikings not named J.J. McCarthy. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores definitely agrees, which is why Ingram-Dawkins spent last week getting more time with the first unit alongside Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in the base 3-4 defense than a healthy veteran Harrison Phillips.