The defense has been a question mark all offseason, but so far in camp, especially with pads on, they seem to be leading the race. The offense is loaded with star power like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Aaron Jones, but the quarterback play remains questionable.
Sam Darnold is what he is, but J.J. McCarthy will have some hiccups. But according to Will Ragatz, Brian Flores and defense have been full-throttle regarding aggressiveness and success. His recap of the first day of pads was blunt but clear: the offense has some work to do.
“Overall, this practice was mostly won by the defense, I thought. Flores is giving both quarterbacks all they can handle by sending his usual array of complex, aggressive blitzes. There was frequent traffic in the backfield. Outside of a big Aaron Jones run on the one of the day’s first reps, the offense couldn’t get a whole lot going in standard 11-on-11 action.”
It is very early in camp, but if the offense is going to struggle, then this defense is going to be tasked with handling a lot of tough offenses in 2024. The defense wasn’t expected to have such a role, but perhaps we will start to be more realistic about a journeyman quarterback and rookie quarterback with mechanics issues being corrected.