Category: Vikings

Justin Jefferson with stunning catch in warmups

Justin Jefferson was his spectacular self in warmups

Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings is a highlight reel.

On Sunday before facing the San Francisco 49ers, Jefferson added a catch to the fanfare.

Check out the amazing catch in warmups. That should get more attention from the 49ers’ secondary.

Andrew Van Ginkel with pick-six of Daniel Jones for Vikings

Andrew Van Ginkel with a defensive TD for the Vikings

The New York Giants and Daniel Jones would expect to feel plenty of heat … and we don’t mean from the Minnesota Vikings defense.

The media will be all over the quarterback and Big Blue after playing poorly in their season opener.

They made Sam Darnold look like the quarterback the New York York Jets drafted and had such high hopes for years ago.

And, then Jones’ quick pass was picked off by Andrew Van Ginkel, who could have waltzed into the end zone.

The Vikings led 28-6 late in the third quarter. The Giants looked as bad as those throwback uniforms.

Vikings drive 99 yards for touchdown against Giants

Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson have it going at MetLIfe

The New York Giants’ special teams made a wonderful play to pin the Minnesota Vikings at their one on Sunday at MetLife.

Too bad the Giants’ defense was unable to back up the punt team with some excellent play.

Sam Darnold led the Vikings on a 99-yard drive over 11 plays.

Darnold connected with Justin Jefferson on fourth down for the touchdown.

Vikings lose J.J. McCarthy for entire season after meniscus surgery

J.J. McCarthy is lost to the Vikings for the 2024 NFL season

The Minnesota Vikings will have to wait until the 2025 NFL season to see what 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy can do.

The 10th overall pick out of Michigan underwent meniscus surgery on Wednesday. The procedure was successful but required a complete repair and McCarthy is out for the entire season, per coach Kevin O’Connell.

McCarthy threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns in his preseason debut against the Las Vegas Raiders. He was held out of practice Monday due to knee soreness and the injury was then discovered.

McCarthy came to the Vikings from the University of Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to the national championship last season.

Sam Darnold will be the Vikings’ quarterback in 2024. Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall are also in Minnesota’s training camp.

At practice on Wednesday, wide receiver Jordan Addison was carted off after suffering an apparent leg injury.

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Knee surgery for Vikings top pick, QB J.J. McCarthy

Knee surgery will sideline Vikings top pick J.J. McCarthy

Knee soreness that kept quarterback J.J. McCarthy out of Minnesota Vikings practice on Monday has turned more concerning. The No. 10 overall pick from the national champion Michigan Wolverines will undergo surgery for a torn meniscus it was announced on Tuesday.

McCarthy was impressive in his preseason debut. In a 24-23 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, he was 11-of-17 for 188 yards and two touchdowns.

“It was something where he obviously finished the game [Saturday], threw a touchdown on his last pass, but out of precaution, you know, we’re going to continue evaluation on him and get some more testing done,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said Monday. “Very important player, obviously. So we want to make sure we’re smart about that before he participates [and make sure we] have a good understanding of where he’s at.”

The Vikings will start Sam Darnold while Jaren Hall and Nick Mullens are also in training camp.

How much time McCarthy will miss depends on how much work has to be done on his injured knee in the surgery.

Minnesota Vikings fourth-round pick Khyree Jackson dies in auto accident at 24

Minnesota Vikings fourth-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft Khyree Jackson dies in auto accident

Tragedy has hit the NFL and Minnesota Vikings. Khyree Jackson, the NFL North team’s fourth-round picked died in an auto accident in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Jackson, 24, was the 108th pick in the 2024 NFL draft out of Oregon. He was a cornerback.


The team posted on his death. His mother, Ebony Jackson, confirmed it to TMZ.

Ducks coach Dan Lanning also posted on Twitter.

Jackson’s football path to the NFL:

2019 – Played CB at Fort Scott Community College

2020 – Transferred to East Mississippi Community College (#1 JUCO CB per 247)

2021 – Transferred to Alabama, got his first career start in the 2021 National Title Game against Georgia

2022 – 7 Tackles & 1 TFL in 9 games, before facing a suspension for unknown reasons, would announce he would transfer to Oregon that offseason

2023 – Started at Oregon, started immediately, earned First-Team All PAC-12 Honors 🏆

2024 – Drafted in 2024 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, in Round 4, Pick 108

This is the second time this decade a Vikings draft pick died in a car crash. Jeff Gladney, a 2020 first-round pick was killed at 25 in an auto accident in Texas. That took place in 2022.

 

Can Sam Darnold lead the Vikings to the playoffs?

We have seen flashes from Sam Darnold before, but can he sustain them under a more stable franchise?

It feels not so long ago that former first round pick Sam Darnold was the brand new hope of the Carolina Panthers after formerly being the brand new hope of the team that drafted him in the first round in the New York Jets. While Darnold failed to live up to the expectations in both cases, it’s hard not to give some level of optimism with his newest stint as the likely starter with the Minnesota Vikings.

The skillset that got Sam Darnold drafted with the third overall pick in 2018 is still very much present, and at only 27 years old there is still room to grow. It’s fair to say that Darnold in his career as a starter has never been set up to succeed, with his two starting stints being tainted by the putrid coaching of both Adam Gase and Matt Rhule, widely recognized as two of the worst to do it in recent memory.

Despite the lack of coaching and general talent surrounding Darnold, there were still glimpses in his play from time to time, including almost carrying a bad Panthers team to the playoffs in 2022.

The rocket arm, athletic ability, and whip release are all still tools at the disposal of Darnold. With one of the brighter offensive minds in the league as his head coach in Kevin O’Connell, while surrounded by one of the top receiving units in the league, he could experience some stability that he has never known in his career. First Darnold will need to beat out fellow first round pick J.J. McCarthy in training camp, which if his talent holds up he should have little problem doing.

Minnesota Vikings’ most underrated player: Safety Josh Metellus

The Vikings have an underrated defender in safety Josh Metellus, who can do just about anything on the field.

The key to being a standout defensive back in today’s NFL is versatility, and that’s true no matter where you line up. It’s certainly been the case for Josh Metellus of the Vikings.

Listed as a safety, Metellus has all kinds of tricks up his sleeve. The 2020 sixth-round pick out of Michigan saw a bit of playing time in his first three NFL seasons, and it all came together for him in 2023. That’s when he totaled three sacks, 29 total pressures, 86 solo tackles, and 45 stops.

Metellus also demonstrated the ability to cover receivers everywhere from press on short crossers to the deep third on vertical routes. And he’s great at making the most of Brian Flores’ blitz looks by either hammering home to the quarterback, or dropping into coverage.

How three new edge-rushers can correct the Vikings’ boom-or-bust blitz approach

The Vikings redefined their defensive line so that Brian Flores’ blitz-heavy approach will actually work, and it should pay off in 2024.

It should surprise no one familiar with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ body of work that Minnesota ranked first in the NFL last season in blitz rate — at 51.5%, they were the only NFL team to bring the house in a relative sense on more than half their defensive snaps. However, their 43 sacks and 21.9% pressure rate were decidedly middle of the pack.

That boom-and-bust problem came from the field to a large degree. In 2023, Danielle Hunter led the Vikings with 18 sacks and 80 total pressures. After that, it was D.J. Wonnum with nine sacks and 38 total pressures. After that? Well, safety Harrison Phillips ranked third on the team with four sacks, and with no disrespect to Mr. Philips, that’s not what you want out of your defense. The Vikings lost Hunter in the offseason to the Houston Texans, so general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had some work to do, and that would have been the case had he been able to keep Hunter on the roster.

The path started with a switch, as the Vikings signed former Texans edge-rusher Jonathan Greenard to a four-year, $76 million contract with $42 million guaranteed. The former third-round pick out of Florida had a career in 2023 with 14 sacks and 53 total pressures. Greenard doesn’t have Hunter’s explosiveness off the snap, but he does bring a nice combination of power, speed, and pass-rush moves. 

Step 2 was the addition of ex-Dolphins defender Andrew Van Ginkel with a two-year, $20 million contract with $13 million guaranteed. Last season, Van Ginkel had his own career year with eight sacks and 53 total pressures, and he did that at the line and as an off-ball linebacker — which makes his place in Flores’ multiple blitz packages especially interesting. 

Then, the Vikings took Alabama edge-rusher Dallas Turner with the 17th overall pick in the draft. Turner has yet to fully develop his pass-rush arsenal, but his skill set is reminiscent of a young Danielle Hunter, and Turner said after he was drafted that he models his game after Hunter’s.

“Because of the body type,” Turner said of Hunter. “He’s not that big. He’s definitely swole, but the body type, he’s not the most fast or athletic dude, but he gets it done every time, so I really see that a lot and watched his film a lot. Some of the moves that he did, I kind of did, too.” 

Ideally, this acquisition of riches will make Flores’ defense everything he wants it to be with his aggressive playbook.

2024 NFL Schedule: League announces slate of five international games

The NFL has announced its five international games for the 2024 season, and here they all are.

The NFL is planning five different games for the 2024 regular season in its international slate, and the league announced all five on Wednesday morning. The entire schedule will be announced at 8:00 p.m. ET Wednesday evening.

This season’s slate of International Games will begin in São Paulo, Brazil on Friday night of Week 1 of the regular season. The Green Bay Packers will take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, Sept. 6 at 8:15 PM ET.

The Minnesota Vikings will kick off the league’s return to Europe on Sunday, Oct. 6, as they play the New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — the only purpose-built NFL stadium outside of the U.S.

The following Sunday, Oct. 13, also at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Chicago Bears will play the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The London focus then shifts to Wembley Stadium as the Jaguars take on the New England Patriots on Sunday, Oct. 20.  This is the second time Jacksonville will play back-to-back games in the U.K., marking the team’s 12th and 13th regular season games in London.

The Carolina Panthers will play the New York Giants in Munich at Allianz Arena — Home of FC Bayern Munich on Sunday, Nov. 10 as part of the NFL’s commitment to playing regular season games in Germany.

“We are delighted to announce these exciting matchups across London and Munich, in addition to the historic first game in São Paulo, Brazil, to complete the 2024 International Games slate,” said NFL Executive Vice President, Club Business, Major Events & International Peter O’Reilly. “As the league and its 32 teams continue to prioritize international growth, we look forward to building on the incredible fan experiences seen in Europe while taking the game to new fans in South America.”