Tag: D.J. Wonnum

D.J. Wonnum out; Jacob Hollister elevated for Sunday’s game

The Vikings’ emerging edge rusher will not play on Sunday

The final Minnesota Vikings injury report had only two players on it with running back Alexander Mattison dealing with a shoulder injury and outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum dealing with an undisclosed illness.

On Saturday afternoon when teams need to make their gameday rosters official with elevations and will also declare players out, the Vikings made two moves in declaring Wonnum out and elevating tight end Jacob Hollister who will make his Vikings debut this Sunday.

Wonnum first appeared on the injury report on Thursday with an illness. He didn’t practice either Thursday or Friday and they decided to keep him out on Sunday. With Wonnum being out, rookie undrafted free agent Luiji Vilain is likely to make his NFL debut.

After placing Ben Ellefson on injured reserve, the Vikings were left with just two tight ends on the roster. They elevated seventh-round pick Nick Muse last week against the Bears and Hollister gets his chance after signing to the Vikings practice squad early last week.

Vikings injury report adds D.J. Wonnum: two others improve status

The Vikings’ injury report saw some significant changes on Thursday

The Minnesota Vikings concluded their second-consecutive day of practice indoors on Thursday due to the cold weather in the Twin Cities and have released an updated injury report that had a few changes on it.

The biggest change of them all was seeing edge rusher D.J. Wonnum added with an illness. He did not practice on the day and his current status is in doubt moving forward.

It was great to see rookie cornerback Akalyeb Evans be upgraded to a full participant in practice. He is currently in the concussion protocol and that makes it more likely that he will suit up on Sunday.

We also saw edge rusher Za’Darius Smith be upgraded to a full participant. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that they are taking it easy on him during practice as he has played the last two weeks since suffering the injury at the end of the game against the Detroit Lions in week three.

Wide receiver Jalen Nailor was still a full participant and running back Alexander Mattison was still limited putting his status for Sunday’s game very much in doubt.

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Week 2 injury report: D.J. Wonnum gets added

The Vikings added an edge rusher to the injury report

The updated Minnesota Vikings injury report is out and there is one change to it.

On Thursday’s injury report, Andrew Booth Jr. didn’t practice for the second-straight day due to an injured quad and both Jonathan Bullard (biceps) and Lewis Cine (knee) were both full participants for the second-straight day.

Friday’s report had one addition. Outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum was listed as limited with a foot injury.

The injury for Wonnum shouldn’t be viewed as anything worth concerning yourself over at this point. He, albeit limited, still did practice and this is the first of any mention of a foot injury.

Against the Green Bay Packers, Wonnum had a team-high three pressures and earned a sack on Aaron Rodgers.

There is still a chance that all four of these guys play, but things aren’t looking good for Booth Jr.

Vikings Film Room: Ed Donatell uses creative fronts

Ed Donatell used some fun and creative pass-rushing combinations against the Packers

The Minnesota Vikings debuted their new defense last week in their 23-7 win over the Green Bay Packers and it produced great results.

They are currently tied for second in scoring defense and did a great job getting home with four pass rushers instead of feeling the need to blitz consistently.

New defensive coordinator Ed Donatell will be implementing his version of the Vic Fangio defense that prioritizes cover-2 and quarters coverage. The way to make this defense function at its peak is to get home with three to four pass rushers and drop everyone else into coverage.

One of the ways that Donatell will bring pressure is with stunts. On the first drive of the game, he dialed one up that used a lot of creativity.

The Vikings line up with seven players on or right near the line of scrimmage. What is really intriguing is how the Vikings lined up on the right side of the center.

On the edge is Dalvin Tomlinson who is the biggest player on the field for the Vikings on this play. That is really intriguing especially with Danielle Hunter and D.J. Wonnum on the inside.

The Vikings only bring four with an overload to Rodgers blindside. Tomlinson sets the edge with Wonnum stunting to the center and Hunter attacking the A gap.

They aren’t able to get home with this look but it is a great example of how Donatell will be bringing unique looks like this all season and will be sending different personnel each time to keep the offensive line guessing.

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Vikings PFF Grades: Best and worst performers in week 1 win vs Packers

The best and worst of the PFF grades from Sunday’s game

The Minnesota Vikings dominated the Green Bay Packers by a score of 23-7 in a game that never really felt close.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell became the fifth head coach in Minnesota Vikings history to win his debut for the franchise.

When the grades came in, they looked really good but there were some disappointing performances.

Here are the best and worst of Sunday’s PFF grades.

Vikings 2022 season preview: Outside Linebacker/Edge

We continue our season preview series with the outside linebackers/edge rushers

In a similar vein to how fans felt when Mike Zimmer took over for Leslie Frazier, the excitement is palpable for the beginning of the Kevin O’Connell era.

While the team prepares for the season, we are doing the same at the Vikings Wire. We will be producing previews breaking down both each position and the team as a whole.

Today, we continue with our preview series by talking about the defensive line.

Quarterback Preview
Running Back Preview
Wide Receiver preview
Tight End Preview
Offensive Tackle Preview
Defensive Line Preview

49ers vs Vikings: 3 Takeaways at Halftime

The first half had some major takeaways

After joint practices for two days earlier this week, the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings are currently playing at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Just an hour and a half before game time, the Vikings announced that 27 of their 85 players on the roster would not play.

In turn, the 49ers also announced that they would also not be playing 27 players.

Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins all missed the game, meaning it was an opportunity for the backup quarterbacks for both sides to get meaningful reps.

The first half left us with some strong takeaways. Here were the three takeaways from the first half.

Vikings 2022 NFL draft preview: Where does Minnesota stand at DE?

The Vikings have Danielle Hunter and D.J. Wonnum. Now what?

The 2022 NFL draft is rich with pass-rushing talent, and that’s a good thing when considering the insatiable need to wreak havoc against opposing offenses.

Count the Minnesota Vikings among the teams looking to add another potential game-breaker to set the edge on defense.

A team can never have too many talented defensive ends on a roster. Particularly with the Vikings, with all of the uncertainty right now in the secondary, they’re going to need playmakers up front that can get home for sacks or—at the very least—disrupt the timing of offenses.

There are several players within reach for the Vikings that could do exactly that in this draft. Here is where the team stands right now at the defensive end position.

Watch D.J. Wonnum slingshot Bears QB Andy Dalton on a huge sack

He sent him flying!

Minnesota Vikings defensive end D.J. Wonnum Jr. is living in the Chicago Bears’ offensive backfield rent-free.

On one particular play in the first quarter on Sunday, Bears quarterback Andy Dalton was a victim of a slingshot to the heavens as Wonnum chased him deep into the backfield, wrapped him up and sent him flying. The sack officially puts Wonnum ahead of Danielle Hunter (6) as the team’s leading sack artist on the season.

Granted, Hunter suffered a season-ending pec injury in late October that has kept him out for the season. So Wonnum has been one of the players the team has counted on to step up along the defensive front.

He’s stepping up in a big way against the Bears in the season finale. Dalton looked like a man running for his life.

Wonnum improving as a playmaker, even if it is the last game of the season, is a welcome sight for a defense that has faced its fair share of criticism over the last few weeks.

Perhaps brighter days are ahead for a unit that could look very different next season.

Stock up, stock down from the Vikings’ win over the Bears

Here is the stock report from Week 15:

The Vikings defeated the Bears on Monday night and Minnesota practically never looked good doing it.

The Vikings had miscues in every phase of the game. However, it was Mike Zimmer’s defense that looked the sharpest of any unit on the field. The Bears scored just nine points, and that includes Chicago’s last-second touchdown to make the final score appear closer than the game actually was. As Zimmer put it, that score doesn’t really matter.

What does matter is how each Vikings player did in Chicago. Here is the stock report from Week 15: