Sam Howell’s one-for-five, 13-yard day against the New England Patriots, plus the Minnesota Vikings’ thin receiver depth may have distracted from a pressing issue entering this season: Minnesota’s secondary is looking a little shaky.
The Vikings replaced the departed Camryn Bynum with Theo Jackson, who has played in 43 NFL games but never started. They re-signed Byron Murphy, but there’s a lot of uncertainty behind him. Minnesota is elevating Isaiah Rodgers to a full-time role, and Jeff Okudah and Mekhi Blackmon have injury concerns.
Minnesota may add another corner before the season, like it did with Stephon Gilmore last year. However, their other option is to get to the quarterback before he has time to throw downfield.
“Why [shouldn’t] the guys who are literally the first line of defense [make] the play?” Jonathan Greenard asked rhetorically after practice last week. “That’s kind of the mindset that we should all have, the front five, front seven, whoever’s on the front at that time.
“We should be making every single play. It shouldn’t even get to the linebackers or the second level.”
In an ideal world, that’s how a defense should work. Compress the time an opposing quarterback has to throw, forcing short passes and rushed decisions. However, that’s easier said than done.
Can the Vikings expect to be so disruptive up front that opposing teams cannot exploit breakdowns in the secondary?
“I’m not a big fan of expectations,” said Jonathan Allen, one of Minnesota’s big-money free-agent acquisitions in the offseason. “I’m a big fan of standards. I think expectations are too result-based. A standard is how you come to work day in and day out.”
However, Allen was mum on Minnesota’s standards this season.
“The thing about football players is the standards we set for ourselves can almost never be met,” he said. “Because we expect perfection. We demand perfection.”
Hopefully, the defensive line doesn’t need to be perfect to suppress scoring. The Vikings reinforced the trenches in the offseason to springboard J.J. McCarthy in his first season as a starter. If all goes to plan, McCarthy will have time to operate Kevin O’Connell’s offense from the pocket, and he won’t have to chase games because the defense will keep the score close.
Still, to do that, Greenard, Allen, and Co. will have to penetrate the backfield and disrupt opposing quarterbacks consistently. Fortunately, Allen has a trick up his sleeve, according to Greenard.
“He got a hump move,” explained Greenard. “It’s old school. It’s just like, as weird as it sounds, it’s literally like using the offensive lineman against them and like hump them by.”
Jonathan Allen's favorite move, the Hump move. Legit the only pass rushing move he does. Sets up by attacking the outside shoulder of guard, throws a chop and lets the guard punch em and get close, then he swings the chopped arm under the inside shoulder and BOOM, you got Humped pic.twitter.com/Now37s7Czr
— JJ Pegues Cross Chop💅🏽💪🏾💯👀 (@TheCasualNFLFan) July 13, 2024
Greenard invoked the name of a Vikings great when describing Allen’s hump move.
“Look at John Randle,” said Greenard. “When he does the infamous hump move, where he throws the guys just out the club, it’s literally that but just from a 300-pounder.”
Here’s the thing: It’s a little weird.
Still, that’s fitting for the Vikings, who can never be normal.