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The Minnesota Vikings Madden rankings for defensive line and edge rusher left something to be desired.
On Monday, the first batch of Madden 24 rankings were released as well as the first 99 overall in this year’s game.
They are currently releasing two position groups per day and started with wide receivers and safeties. On Tuesday, they released edge rushers and defensive tackles. Here is how the Vikings players were ranked.
Going into training camp, here are the projected starters on the defensive side of the football.
As the Minnesota Vikings near the start of their training camp, the defense will be a highly-contested unit.
Between multiple new additions — including free agents Marcus Davenport and Byron Murphy, Jr. — draft picks, and players returning from injury, defensive coordinator Brian Flores will have a lot of uncertainty to work through.
As a result, predicting the team’s starting defense before the start of camp is, well, challenging.
Still, predicting it allows there to be a discussion around multiple players. There’s no knowing which two linebackers start in Flores’ 3-4 base defense, but there’s an opportunity to offer educated guesses.
As a result, we’ll take an opportunity to project who will start for the Vikings in their base defense.
The Vikings don’t have a ton of high-end talent, but they do have depth on the defensive line.
We’re getting closer and closer to football season, which means rankings are coming in hot and heavy. The recent one has PFF’s Gordon McGuinness ranking the top-32 interior defenders. Minnesota’s Harrison Phillips just made the list as he slips in at 28th.
McGuinness noted Phillips’ run-stopping ability as the main reason for him making the list. He stated that his 73.8 PFF grade against the run last season was the second-best in his career so far.
While Phillips may not be “starting” for this new iteration of the Vikings’ defense, still expect him to make a significant impact. Flores likes keeping fresh bodies on the line, especially on the interior. That’s where most of the chaos ensues. And that’s what Flores is all about. Causing chaos and confusion for the opposing quarterback.
I expect Phillips to be a solid piece for this Vikings’ defense for years. And don’t forget that he’s only 27 at the start of this season. He’s still got a lot of good football to play.
Everson Griffen wore the number for a long time before giving it to Harrison Phillips, but who else has worn No. 97 for the Vikings?
It’s the final countdown…
Well, sort of.
The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 97 days at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.
From now until then, we will take a trip down memory lane and count each day by revisiting the players that have worn that specific jersey number.
Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips currently wears the number for the Vikings, and began wearing it last season. The real star of this group, though, is Everson Griffen, who wore the number from 2010 to 2022.
With 98 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 97 with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was joined by Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Harrison Phillips to discuss mental health.
Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah opened up about his mental health journey to a group of Minnesota-based high schoolers on Wednesday.
Adofo-Mensah, Vikings defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, and Touchstone Mental Health Vice President Michelle Wincell O’Leary hosted students from Project Success and local Boys & Girls Clubs at the team’s performance center to discuss various mental health topics.
During the panel, Adofo-Mensah opened up about his battle with anxiety.
“For a lot of people in my life, I’m always this calm, happy person – I used to work on Wall Street and now I do this job – and it’s like, ‘You have anxiety?’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah, once in a while. I go through a couple things,’ ” Adofo-Mensah said. “Just me telling them that kind of opens their eyes, and they might tell me their own story.”
Adofo-Mensah also opened up about a moment when he was 15, which opened his eyes to mental health.
“When I was probably your age … I was a young kid who thought he had the whole world figured out. ‘Just get up. Stop being weak.’ I was kind of one of those guys,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Then I got cut from the basketball team when I was 15.”
Phillips mentioned that he was impressed with how mental health conversations have become more common than just a decade ago.
“I can see in my six years in the NFL, and three back at Stanford, the difference in how accepted it is and how much we talk about it as alpha male football players,” Phillips said. “It comes up weekly, daily – checking in with our boys.”
After an eventful offseason so far, @TheKevinFielder highlights 4 Minnesota Vikings who could lose their starting jobs this season.
As the Minnesota Vikings begin their transition, multiple players could see their starting spot in jeopardy.
Although the Vikings were quiet in free agency, they did make a few signings that could push incumbent starters out of their spot on the depth chart. The Vikings also drafted six players, including two players in the secondary.
Ultimately, the Vikings’ depth chart can best be described as uncertain because of multiple open position battles that will take place.
Here are four Minnesota Vikings who could lose their starting spot during the 2023 season.
The Vikings currently have 50 players under contract going into the 2023 offseason
Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has a lot of work to do this offseason to get the Vikings roster under the cap and ready to go for the 2023 season.
There is a lot of talk about impending free agents and potential cap casualties for the Vikings this offseason, but not so much about the other players that are under contract.
According to Over The Cap, the Vikings have 50 players currently under contract and sit $23,051,507 over the projected salary cap. Here is all 50 players under contract with the details of their current contracts.
Playing in big games is normal for Tomlinson
On Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings will be hosting the New York Giants in the Wild Card round and it will be the playoff debut of defensive end Dalvin Tomlinson.
A second-round pick of the Giants out of Alabama in 2017, Tomlinson gets to make his playoff debut against his former team. While he’s never made it in the National Football League, Tomlinson has played in plenty of big games at the college level.
Nose tackle Harrison Phillips spoke about Tomlinson’s playoff debut and how he thinks Tomlinson can be a game-wrecker.
“I had joked with him, if I can remember back to where he was in college, those SEC championship and national championship games, he kind of went stupid. So I was like, no one in the world has ever seen playoff Dalvin before, so maybe we’re all in for quite the movie. But no, he’s a mature player, played in huge, big-time football games in his life and in his career here, and I think that he’ll be on, ten-toes down the whole game.”
Even though Tomlinson hasn’t played in the NFL playoffs, he’s used to big-time stages.
Among Vikings starters, no one has been waiting longer to experience the NFL playoffs than Dalvin Tomlinson. After six seasons, this will be his first postseason game — and it's against his former team.
Here's what Harrison Phillips said about that: pic.twitter.com/NrU6nkDzQ9
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) January 10, 2023
Despite their lack of unit success, the Vikings’ defense ranked highly with individual merits
The Minnesota Vikings finished the regular season with a 13-4 record but aren’t getting much respect across the league. One place where they do get respect is in the PFF grades.
Throughout the season, we have tracked how the Vikings have been ranked in terms of PFF grades and they have consistently ranked well per position.
As the regular season has just wrapped up, we reviewed the offense and here is how the defense finished at each position.
Phillips has a tremendous heart
Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Harrison Phillips was at the Timberwolves game Monday night when news broke that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin had collapsed on the field following a routine tackle. Phillips signed with the Vikings this past offseason, but he previously played for the Bills, so he knows Hamlin quite well. In fact, Phillips and Hamlin had lockers near each other back when Phillips was still playing for the Bills.
After hearing the news about Hamlin, Phillips first prayed for Hamlin, but then he tried to think of how he could help his former teammate from afar. He did so by catering for everyone on the ICU floor.
Vikings DL Harrison Phillips, who played 4 years for the Bills, bought dinner for Damar Hamlin's family, the team training staff who are with him in Cincinnati + the ICU doctors/nurses. His Harrison's Playmakers charity has a portal for donations:https://t.co/b4PB0Hsgnp
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) January 4, 2023
Phillips didn’t stop there with his kind heart. He is known throughout the league as being a community guy and has been nominated in the past for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award. So it comes as no surprise that Phillips wanted to help in this situation as well.
Phillips said he stayed up until the Bills landed on Monday night. "Once I heard they were going to get some sleep, I tried to get some sleep myself."
On Tuesday, he started making phone calls, and connected with a nurse in Cincinnati who recommended places that cater meals.
— Ben Goessling (@BenGoessling) January 4, 2023
Phillips, along with the rest of the NFL and its fans, are hoping and praying for Hamlin’s recovery. In the meantime, these kind gestures, like the one Phillips displayed, make a bad situation just a little bit better.
