Bill Johanesen
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From a Daily Norseman poster:
They’ll mostly play a 6-man box in front of nickel DBs, with this personnel grouping:
2 DL: big DTs like Phillips and Tomlinson, though one of them might line up at 5-tech and could be called a 3-4 DE
2 edge rushers: Hunter, Smith and the other DEs from Zimmer’s scheme, but now called OLBs
2 LBs: Kendricks and Hicks, now called ILBs but basically similar to the roles Kendricks and Barr played in nickel under Zimmer
You could call that a 2-4, counting the edge rushers as OLBs. It’ll look very similar to the Vikings usual 4-2 front under Zimmer, but with the edge rushers standing up.
On 3rd downs, Fangio (in Chicago and Denver) mostly stuck with the same personnel (2 DL, 2 OLB, 2 ILB). He didn’t bring in an extra edge rusher, like Zimmer often did (Robison would kick inside on 3rd downs in 2017 and Hunter would come in at DE), but would rotate in better pass rushers at the DT positions. For the Vikings this year, that might mean taking off Tomlinson and Phillips on 3rd down and bringing in Watts and Lynch (or someone they add, like maybe they re-sign Sheldon Richardson for this role). Outside Watts/Lynch would be the edge rushers, Hunter and Smith as usual.
On the other hand, the Vikings defense this year won’t only be based on the Fangio system, Mike Pettine is involved as well. And Pettine (as Vikings fans surely remember from 2019) liked to line up his best edge rusher, Za’Darius Smith, over the IOL on 3rd downs, bringing in Rashan Gary as an extra edge rusher / OLB. For the Vikings this year, that would mean pushing ZS inside next to just one DL (Watts is their best DT-sized pass rusher), and bringing in Wonnum (or hopefully someone better who they draft this year) opposite Hunter.
That’s all still the nickel DB packages.
In base packages, in front of 4 DBs, they’ll usually play a standard 3-4 personnel grouping: 3 DL (Phillips, Tomlinson, Watts), 2 OLB (Hunter, Smith) and 2 ILB (Kendricks and Hicks). but even though that’s called “base”, they don’t use it much — Fangio played in base about 30% of snaps with the Bears and Broncos, and Pettine even less often in Green Bay.
In terms of needs…
They’re in decent shape on the DL with these 4: Tomlinson, Phillips, Watts and Lynch. Watts and Lynch might both be better as 5-techs (Lynch especially, that’s more like the role he played at Baylor) than they were as 1-tech DTs in the 4-3. They could use a 5th guy for depth especially if that’s a decent pass rusher (Sheldon Richardson?). Maybe Jaylen Twyman comes back? He might be a good 3rd down pass rusher, but he hasn’t played football in 2 years. They should probably draft one since Tomlinson and Watts are both UFAs this year, and Lynch hasn’t been much good in the NFL, but that’s not a high priority. They could take a developmental guy on day 3.
They’re in excellent shape with their starting OLBs. Hunter and Smith are one of the best pairings in the league. They could use an upgrade over Wonnum as a 3rd pass rusher (I don’t think he’s good at all). They might be able to get a blue chip pass rusher in round 2 this year, it’s a deep class. It’s probably notable that the first thing Pettine did in GB was sign Za’Darius and Preston Smith, and then draft Rashan Gary at #12. So don’t be surprised if they take Travon Walker (if he falls) or more realistically Jermaine Johnson. I do think Wonnum can stick on the roster as a 3-4 OLB (he’s good in space, and plays like a linebacker anyway). The rest of their leftover 4-3 DEs may not make a smooth transition to the 3-4 OLB role (Willekes and Jones especially are probably just pure DEs). Maybe Janarius Robinson can, and be their 4th or 5th guy.
The starting ILBs are also set, with Kendricks and Hicks. They do need better depth than Troy Dye and Blake Lynch, and it’d be good to find someone who might develop given their starters are 30 years old already. It’s worth pointing out that Fangio and Pettine have never emphasized LB depth beyond late round picks and special teams guys. Pettine in particular liked to use a lot of dime (6 DBs) which limits the LB snaps. But given that the Vikings hardly have any DBs as it is, I think they’ll mostly play 2 ILBs with nickel, much as Zimmer did.
So there isn’t a lot they absolutely have to add to the front 7 this year except for an upgrade to Wonnum (never miss the chance to draft a blue chip pass rusher). But they can use depth at DL and LB too, especially with some uncertainty if this year’s starters will still be around next year and beyond.
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