Tag: K.J. Osborn

Players drawing interest at Vikings training camp

See which Vikings players have already impressed in training camp.

It’s that time again — the Vikings have started up training camp.

For Minnesota, it’s gearing up to be one of the more important training camps in recent memory. That’s because of all the free agency acquisitions the team made.

Those new faces have already made for an interesting offseason. Now, it’s time for the signees to gel with the other players on the roster.

With the way the team has been built, Minnesota is in a playoff window. The Vikings will have pressure on them to at least make the postseason. It starts with training camp.

Here are some players who have already impressed:

Here are four tough cutdown decisions the Vikings may have to make

The Vikings will have some tough cutdown decisions to make before the regular season.

A tough reality of the NFL: Not every player on the roster during the summer makes the 53-man roster before the regular season.

The Vikings will have some tough decisions to make this offseason. Minnesota will have to let go of rookies and veterans alike. At least there is the practice squad.

Here are four places where the Vikings may have to make difficult decisions to trim the roster down:

Four Vikings in make-or-break years

The Minnesota Vikings have some players who entering key 2021 NFL seasons.

The Vikings have some players across their roster that are entering pivotal stages of their career.

Minnesota has young players who need to prove they can make it in the NFL. The team also has some veterans who need to step into bigger roles or show that they can still be consistent.

The Vikings disappointed in 2020. Now, the team will have big expectations in another year under Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman — can the team get back to the postseason or will the team be at a crossroads yet again?

For the team as a whole, it’s a make-or-break year, but here are some players who especially need to perform for the sake of their careers:

Deciding what the Vikings should do about open positions this offseason

How do you want the Minnesota Vikings to fill its remaining open positions this offseason: Through the NFL draft or in free agency?

Minnesota is just one season removed from a playoff victory, but the team still has plenty of pressing needs to address this offseason.

So this article will feature some big roles that are relatively open on the Vikings right now, followed by a decision over whether to address those spots through the draft or in free agency.

It probably goes without saying, but the Vikings shouldn’t just draft by need and need alone. The team should try and find the best talent available to it. That said, given Minnesota’s open spots, it would certainly help if ideal players at big positions fell to it in the 2021 draft.

Here is the list:

Vikings inactives: Key players out for the Bears game

See the Minnesota Vikings’ inactive list for its Week 15 game against the Chicago Bears!

Minnesota has really missed Eric Kendricks recently.

Kendricks suffered a pregame calf injury leading up to the Jaguars matchup in Week 13. He did not play in the Jacksonville game. The defense played OK in that game, but the group gave up big plays to a struggling team.

The next game, Kendricks was also out. In Week 14, the Vikings played the Buccaneers and the defense was disappointing, not generating a pass rush and letting up big plays once again. Kendricks isn’t typically a huge pass rushing threat, but he does add quite a bit in coverage.

Minnesota has more bad news this week. Kendricks is on the inactives list after being ruled out for the Week 15 game.

Here is the full list:

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

Here is the stock up, stock down report from the Minnesota Vikings win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Minnesota had some key players step up on Sunday against Jacksonville.

But it wasn’t all perfect. The Jaguars, with just one victory in 2020 heading into the matchup, gave the Vikings an extremely close game.

To be fair, I think Jacksonville is better than its record. Still, the Vikings have to be more consistent in pretty much all phases of the game if they want to beat some of the tougher teams left on the schedule.

The Vikings will need the best version of themselves to beat teams like the Buccaneers and the Saints.

Minnesota still won and still moved to 6-6 of course. Here is the stock up, stock down from the game:

The Vikings have a punt returning problem. How do they fix it?

The Minnesota Vikings have been bad at punt returning this year. What do you think the Vikings should do?

Sometimes even a good punt returner is hard to notice.

A player could be back deep and picking up chunks of yards on a consistent basis, but if they’re not running it back all the way, fans might not take notice.

A bad punt returner, on the other hand, is easy to spot, so it hasn’t been hard to see the Vikings’ struggles in that area.

K.J. Osborn has four returns for an average of 1.5 yards. Chad Beebe is worse. He has five returns for an average of 1.4 yards. 

Both have had ball control issues as well. Osborn fumbled on a punt return against the Cowboys near the beginning of the game. Beebe muffed a punt at a crucial time in the fourth quarter vs. the Panthers.

It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, the Vikings have a problem with punt returning. Here is an idea they could try:

Minnesota Vikings vs. Carolina Panthers: inactives

Here are the inactvies for the Minnesota Vikings and the Carolina Panthers before the Week 12 game on Sunday.

Minnesota has struggled on special teams in a variety of ways thus far.

Long snapper Austin Cutting had two bad snaps on field goals during a three-game stretch. Minnesota also gave up two blocked punts to the Lions.

The Vikings have been less-than-stellar on punt returns this year, too. K.J. Osborn has averaged 1.5 yards per punt return this season. He also fumbled on a punt return in the last game, but the Vikings recovered it.

So special teams has been very inconsistent. The Vikings inactivates show that the team is moving in a fresh direction in that area. Here is the list:

Vikings special teams coordinator Marwan Maalouf talks about the punt returning

Minnesota Vikings punt returner K.J. Osborn has averaged 1.5 yards per return on punts in 2020. Vikings special teams coordinator Marwan Maalouf recently talked about it.

The Vikings have been good on offense and improved on defense during the team’s three-game win streak.

Of course, that win streak was snapped last game against the Cowboys, mostly due to a poor defensive performance. But whether the Vikings are winning or losing as of late, one thing has been consistent: the special teams has been chaotic.

An aspect of that has to do with the punt returning. The Vikings got off to a bad start last game when K.J. Osborn muffed a punt after Minnesota stopped Dallas on its opening offensive drive.

The Vikings recovered, but it yet again revealed a problem: Minnesota has not cut it on special teams lately. Osborn has averaged 1.5 yards per punt return this season.

Vikings special teams coordinator Marwan Maalouf recently talked about the punt returning. He said that he can’t speak for Osborn, but he feels like the rookie is frustrated at the moment.

“I’m happy with K.J., I really am,” Maalouf said, via the Vikings Twitter account. “He wants to make a play. Sometimes, I think he forces it a little bit. I sound like a broken record probably, but the bottom line is: he hasn’t had a preseason, he hasn’t had a ton of reps, either. I can probably count on one hand how many true reps he’s had on punt return to actually advance a ball.”

The Vikings are not getting a lot of punt return yardage out of their special teams unit, but that’s not all on Osborn. It will be interesting to see if the Vikings end up making any changes in order to rectify their issues in that area. If not, I’m not so sure that the punt returning will improve for the team.

Stock up, stock down from the Vikings’ loss to the Cowboys

Here is the stock up, stock down report from the Vikings-Cowboys game on Sunday.

Minnesota was the favorite to win against Dallas and why wouldn’t it be?

The Vikings were on a three-game winning streak heading into the game. The Cowboys were 2-7 at the time and lost their starting quarterback, Dak Prescott, to injury.

Enter Andy Dalton, who did just enough as the new starting quarterback to deliver a win for Dallas. The Vikings defense gave up too many big plays to allow the team to come back.

The game ended with a lackluster offensive drive from the Vikings and Dallas pulled off the upset.

Here is the stock up, stock down from the game: