Taki Taimani – Syndication Server

Vikings DC Brian Flores throws big praise towards DL group

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has been in the news recently for his critical words of his former players, specifically Tua Tagovailoa.

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has been in the news recently for his critical words of his former players, specifically Tua Tagovailoa. However, he has quickly become a favorite coach among his players in Minnesota. He has seemingly fit in perfectly with Kevin O’Connell and his staff, and now, the players also fit in.

His latest sign of fitting in was his media availability this week when he praised his defensive line group.

“This trio of D-lineman has done a really really fantastic job of coming in and learning the system…Their ability to apply it in real time in games and on the practice field has been really good… I’d be comfortable about putting any one of those guys in there.”

The defensive line’s youth has been noted all offseason, but their play has been extraordinary. Two UDFAs making the 53-man roster speaks to how well they have played and what Brian Flores thinks of them.

While the offense remains a question mark, Brian Flores and his defensive groups are going to be a shining light throughout a dark 2024 season.

Four Vikings make PFF’s All-Rookie preseason team

They recently published their All-Rookie team selections, and the Minnesota Vikings were heavily represented.

The 2024 NFL preseason has wrapped up, allowing for some reflection now as we are just a week away from the regular season kicking off. Pro Football Focus is one of the many sites and outlets offering some reflection. They recently published their All-Rookie team selections, and the Minnesota Vikings were heavily represented.

Four Vikings made the list for PFF, three of whom were undrafted free agents.

The four players who made the cut were kicker Will Reichard, linebacker Dallas Gant, cornerback Dwight McGlothern, and defensive lineman Taki Taimani. All four proved pivotal to the team’s success during the preseason, and with three of them being UDFAs, this speaks to the front office.

The Vikings drafted kicker Will Reichard, which surprised some people, but for a franchise that has had so much turmoil at the position, the gamble has paid off. As for the other three defensive coordinator Brian Flores has been masterful in using all three dynamically and has maximized their skillset.

We can expect them all to find further success when their season kicks off in 10 days against the Giants.

Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner makes NFL analyst’s All-Preseason team

Minnesota Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner made NFL analyst Jacob Camenker’s All-Preseason team, with four others earning honorable mention

Preseason football is important for everyone on the roster, to varying degrees. For established veterans, it’s important to get back into the flow of things after an offseason of inactivity. For players fighting for a roster spot, it’s important to get the reps and show coaching staffs – both their own and the 31 other teams’ – that they belong in this league.

For rookies, like Minnesota Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner, it’s their first chance to see professional action and to show why they were drafted.

While Turner didn’t see much action during this year’s preseason, he made an impression when he was out there. So much so that he’s been named to one NFL analyst’s All-Preseason team. Jacob Camenker of The Sporting News released his First-Team All-Preseason team Monday, and Turner is one of his two choices at EDGE.

Speed was the name of the game for Turner this preseason. He used his athletic ability to beat Saints offensive tackle Andrus Peat in the team’s first game and got a key sack in the red zone. That gave fans and the league just a glimpse of the talent that made the Vikings trade back up into the first round to grab Turner.

If Turner can continue to develop and maintain that speed, he should be a dangerous weapon in a Brian Flores-led defense. Turner only saw 31 snaps this preseason, but it was more than enough to show that his first-round selection was warranted.

Along with Turner, the Vikings earned four honorable mentions on Camenker’s All-Preseason team: Quarterback Jaren Hall, wide receiver Trishton Jackson, defensive tackle Taki Taimani, and kicker Will Reichard all received nods for their summer performances.

The Athletic predicts two UDFA players making the Vikings final roster

There might be two UDFAs making the Vikings 53-man roster according to The Athletic.

With the Vikings’ preseason officially over after their win against the Eagles on Saturday, Minnesota will have to start making some tough decisions. The 53-man roster is looming, and the Vikings will need to figure out who they want to keep from their exceptional UDFA class.

According to The Athletic’s Alec Lewis, he has two UDFAs making Minnesota’s 53-man roster.

Lewis sees both cornerback Dwight McGlothern and defensive lineman Taki Taimani making the roster. McGlothern, the Arkansas product, was sensational for the Vikings this preseason. He had six tackles and took an interception 91 yards. While he may not crack the cornerback rotation, he will play a part on the special teams unit if he makes the team.

Taimani, the former Oregon Duck, also had a great preseason. The Vikings’ interior depth is light, and Taimani showed up when he got his chance, finishing with 10 tackles. Minnesota could use Taimani’s strength.

Lewis also sees Edge rusher Gabriel Murphy making the team but being put on the IR to begin the season.

Oregon DL Taki Taimani signs UDFA contract with Vikings

Oregon defensive lineman Taki Taimani signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent.

Three days and seven rounds of the NFL draft and there was no Taki Taimani.

But one doesn’t need their named to be called in the draft in order to sign with a team and Oregon defensive lineman Taki Taimani did just that.

Taimani signed with the Minnesota Vikings once the draft finished as a free agent.

At Oregon, the 6-foot-3, 330-pounder from Salt Lake City played in all 14 games in his final season while making nine starts. Taimani also finished with 22 total tackles, 1.5 tackle for loss and a fumble recovery and was ranked second among all Pac-12 interior defensive linemen with an 82.3 run-defense grade from Pro Football Focus.

Taimani was one of very few players to transfer from Oregon most heated rival Washington, but he was able to win over the fan base quickly with his hustle, effort and huge smile. Now he’ll get to do the same thing with another fan base in the NFL ranks.

Stock Report: Casey Rogers, Tez Johnson have monster days in blowout win

You would think that in a 44-point blowout victory at home, there wouldn’t be many things to nitpick, and very few stock down performances. That’s not how Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning felt after the game, though.

Rather, Lanning noted several things the team needed to improve on, and he was not satisfied with the performance in the slightest.

While it’s easy to see what he’s talking about, Oregon fans can also feel good about the way their team played, especially when it comes to performances by Bo Nix, Tez Johnson, Casey Rogers, Taki Taimani and many others.

So in our weekly stock report, let’s take a look at the guys who saw their stock rise the most, and a couple who have stuff to improve upon going forward.

Ranking Oregon’s top offensive and defensive players per PFF grades at midway point of season

Ranking Oregon’s top offensive and defensive players at midway point of 2023 season

We are just about midway through the 2023 season for the Oregon Ducks, so it feels like a good opportunity to take stock of where we are at, and how the team got to this point.

Through five games, it’s hard to think things could have gone much better for the Ducks than they have. Dan Lanning and his team are undefeated for the first time through five games since 2013, and they’re one of two teams in the nation with a defense and offense ranked inside the top 10 for total yards.

Obviously, it’s been the players who have gotten them to this point, so we want to take a second to highlight the guys responsible for the early success. While it’s easy to pore over box scores and see the statistical leaders on the team, we want to do what we do every week after a game and head to Pro Football Focus to see how they graded everyone out using their advanced metrics.

With an eye towards both offense and defense, here are the 10 top-graded players on both sides of the ball for the Ducks so far this season.

Note: For this exercise, in order to highlight players who have had a sizeable impact on the season, we made it a requirement that you play a minimum of 10% offensive or defensive snaps thus far. Apologies to true freshman LB Jerry Mixon, who is the highest-graded overall player on Oregon’s team thus far, but missed the cut-off by a single snap.

Injury Report: Updated news for Oregon Ducks ahead of game vs Washington

The Ducks have a few key pieces with status up in the air as Washington comes to Autzen in a game between two ranked teams.

This is not the week to have an extensive injury list to go through as No. 23 Washington comes to Autzen Stadium.

The Ducks have five key players who are either doubful or at the very least questionable for the game with the Huskies. Oregon is going for its ninth straight win and a berth in the College Football Playoff remains in play.

As for the Dawgs, they are enjoying a resurgence after a couple of downtrodden seasons. But Washington is 7-2 and has a chance at the Pac-12 title game should a few outcomes break their way. Oregon hopes that’s not the case.

Oregon doesn’t release official injury reports ahead of the games, but through observations in practice and talking with both coaches and players this week, here is what we have surmised an injury report would look like for Saturday:

Five Ducks named to the Polynesian player of the year award watch list

Oregon linebacker Noah Sewell headlines a group of five Ducks to be named to the Polynesian Player of the Year award watch list.

Oregon has had a long history of having great Polynesian players in the football program and that hasn’t changed.

Five current football players have been named to the watch list for the 2022 Polynesian Player of the Year award. Marcus Mariota took home the first award in 2014 and Penei Sewell also won it in 2019.

Defensive tackle Popo Aumavae, offensive lineman Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, linebackers Noah Sewell and Mase Funa as well as defensive lineman Taki Taimani have all been named to the watch list.

Sewell is definitely one of the favorites to win the award if he has the kind of year the Ducks are expecting the junior to have. If Sewell is to win the award, it would mark the first time in the award’s short history that players of the same family have been recipients.

The winner will be announced after the regular season is finished in December.

[listicle id=27499]

From Seattle to Eugene, ‘Taki’ Taimani explains how Ducks have set career on track

Sam “Taki” Taimani is looking to lose weight in order to gain trust in his coaches and jumpstart his career.

Once you embrace the dark side of the force, there’s no going back to the light. Or is there?

Maybe being a Washington Husky isn’t quite as bad as being the dreaded Darth Vader, but in Oregon Duck fans’ eyes, it’s fairly close.

So when someone who was once part of the dark side in Seattle goes back to the light of Eugene, it’s rare and you have to take notice.

That’s what defensive lineman Sam “Taki” Taimani is attempting to do as he spent four years at Washington before transferring to Oregon where he will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. Although it was a big change, the Ducks are hoping for a smaller Taimani when the season gets underway.

He arrived in Duck camp at a hefty 350 pounds, but with hard work and guidance from the new strength and conditioning coach Wilson Love, Taimani is well underway to becoming a lighter and much better player.

“I want to get to 300 (pounds). I want to move a little better. I look a little slow,” Taimani said. “So I want to move a little better and show that I got a lot of speed. It’s just the weight that kind of holds it down. But I feel a lot better though. I feel like I lost it in good ways. I feel a lot stronger, and I’m still able to play those blocks how I want to so that’s perfect.”

Taimani had his best season thus far in 2021 for what a tumultuous season for the Huskies that saw them go through two head coaches and ultimately wound up at 4-8. But he was able to play in 11 of the 12 games and collected 43 tackles, including nine against Oregon State. His previous high for tackles came in 2019 with 16 tackles.

Taimani told The Athletic back in January that although it was tough to leave his Husky teammates, Oregon reached out almost right away and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi can definitely relate to also being a former Husky who is now wearing green and yellow.

Me and Tosh sat down and talked, and he told me he was a Husky, too, and he understands what it’s going to be like to do that. He went through his phase of not liking Oregon, too, and he said, “I promise you, (the criticism) will be bad, but I’ll be right here with you. You won’t just take the heat by yourself. It’s going to be me and you.” And I was like, well, yep, then let’s do it.

Taimani might relate to Lupoi, but it’s coach Love who will ultimately get him to be the player he truly wants to be with the conditioning and the weight loss.

“I love it, it’s fun here. I love the players here, I love the coaches here, and I especially love the strength staff here,” Taimani said. “I came in around 350 and got down to about 315 now. So that’s a lot of weight. I struggled a little bit to lose some weight but now that I’m here, I kind of got it on track. (Coach) Love helped me get on track.

“We really had that face-to-face talk about my career and what I had to do to get to where I want to be, so he helped me with that. All the recourses they have here have just helped me become a better athlete.”

Taimani’s weight loss and newfound flexibility will ultimately be Oregon’s gain.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01f27mq9z7hjgk6vc6 player_id=none image=https://duckswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]