Vikings’ virtual offseason won’t hurt them as much as teams with new coaches and QB changes
This bizarre NFL offseason with virtual classroom sessions and cancelled on-field workouts for players due to the pandemic reminds me of the early years of my NFL career.
Back in the late 1970s when I joined the Vikings, we never saw most of the Vikings veterans from January until they showed up for the first day of training camp in Mankato. A few popped into our Edina offices from time to time but those who lived out of town such as Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton were gone until late July. There was no organized offseason program and no state of the art workout facilities such as the Vikings utilize in normal times at their fantastic Eagan facility. Players were expected to come to training camp in shape.
Coach Bud Grant held a two day rookie camp the week following the draft and then the rookies were basically on their own to learn the playbook.
Those Vikings teams were veteran oriented with only a few rookies—usually the high round draft picks—making the roster each year. Things changed dramatically when free agency came to the NFL in the 1990s and teams began to turn over about one-third of their rosters each year. By then player salaries had risen to where players didn’t need off season non-football jobs and offseason programs had expanded to nine weeks of work in the classroom, on the field and in the strength and conditioning areas. Almost every draft choice now makes the active roster or practice squad along with several undrafted free agents.
The other exception with no offseason program came in 2011 due to a lockout of the players with the Collective Bargaining Agreement expired. The Vikings had a first year head coach in Leslie Frazier and a rookie quarterback in Christian Ponder who both needed the extra prep time and it turned out to be an ugly 3-13 season for Minnesota.
Based on where other sports seem to be headed with games possible by July, we could see on-field activities for NFL teams before training camp time in late July. But it won’t be nearly as much on-field work as coaches would have liked.
I believe if the pandemic eases enough for teams to hold regular training camps in August (probably with limited if any fan access), there will be enough time for coaches to prepare players to perform at a high enough level for the games to be played at close to peak efficiency. But with limited if any off season practices and the possibility of delayed starts to training camps, the advantage clearly will go to teams who are fortunate to have returning coaches and quarterbacks along with veteran laden rosters.
The Super Bowl champion Chiefs have 20 of 22 returning starters and have Coach Andy Reid and the league’s top QB in Patrick Mahomes to lead the way. The NFC champion 49ers also have most of the starters back. At the other end of the spectrum are teams such as Carolina with a new head coach coming from the college ranks in Matt Rhule and a newly signed QB in Teddy Bridgewater. As the Panthers try to get their players up to speed with new schemes, they’ll have a tough time facing a team such as New Orleans with a returning core of coaches and players led by Sean Payton and Drew Brees. Payton in fact is not holding a virtual offseason program as he feels it’s a waste of time for his team and he told his players to stay in top shape for when they can come to training camp.
I’d say the Vikings are in relatively good shape in this discussion of team preparedness for a season with virtual offseason classes/training and few if any on-field practices until training camp time. Unlike the aforementioned 2011 season that was disastrous for the Vikings with a new coach and QB who had no offseason program, the current Vikings have Mike Zimmer entering his seventh season as head coach and his coaching staff has undergone only minor changes. Zimmer has an offense that returns mostly intact with Kirk Cousins entering his third season quarterbacking the team.
Zimmer says the virtual offseason program has gone well so far but it still will be important for Cousins to get in sync with some new receivers led by first round pick Justin Jefferson. The offensive line also needs a lot of practice time after some tweaks at the guard spots and possibly at left tackle if second rounder Ezra Cleveland can progress enough to allow Riley Reiff to move to guard.
Zimmer, Cousins and offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak also will hope Pro Bowl back Dalvin Cook stays healthy and is not a contract holdout. But overall, there’s plenty of talent offensively if the O-line solidifies and the young receivers come on.
Zimmer’s biggest concern will be with his young cornerbacks who have to step in as starters and key backups. So it will be a challenge to get first rounder Jeff Gladney, third rounder Cameron Dantzler and young returnees Mike Hughes, Holton Hill and Kris Boyd ready for Week One of the regular season against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, assuming that game is not moved to later in the season if the schedule is adjusted due to COVID-19. Several young pass rushers also will need to be coached up in order to contribute immediately.
There’s only so much new players can learn in virtual classroom sessions and accomplish in their at-home virtual workouts designed by the Vikings strength and conditioning coaches. They need the on-field work in 7 on 7 and team drills in order to truly prepare for game action.
“I’ll be more concerned about working with the technique of every player when they get here (to Vikings camp),” said Zimmer who has been orchestrating the virtual sessions from his Kentucky ranch. “You can’t just say, ‘Here’s your playbook, now you go out there.’ It doesn’t work like that. They know what to do, but they don’t know how to do it.”
If the Vikings can get their seemingly impressive rookie class ready to play quickly once on-field drills hopefully begin in July or August, the team should have a good chance to overtake a Green Bay team that appears to have gotten little help from the draft or free agency. Their other main NFC North foe in Chicago also has not done much to improve this offseason and will have QB questions between Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles. The Lions appear to be better but they have a brutal early season schedule.
Vikings/NFL Schedule Observations: The games that jumped out at me in Minnesota’s schedule are an exciting regular season opener scheduled for U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, September 13 against the arch-rival Packers along with prime time games at Seattle and Chicago and a Christmas Day national TV matchup at New Orleans.
Coming off a playoff season that included the wild card win over the Saints, the Vikings surely felt worthy of hosting a prime time game (after having two such home games last season) but that won’t happen this season unless one of their Sunday afternoon home games are flexed to Sunday night (perhaps the Bears game on December 20).
There also is a chance that the first few games could be moved to the end of the season if the pandemic causes a delay. So that Packers game could wind up as a January home game and the Super Bowl could be moved to late February in Tampa.
If the schedule begins as planned, it’s a tough start to the season with four playoff teams in the first five weeks (Green Bay and Tennessee at home and Houston and Seattle away…as always seems to be the case, the Vikings are at Seattle for a prime time game on Sunday, October 11). The other game in that opening stretch is Week 2 at Indianapolis and the Colts are considered contenders in the AFC South but at least the Vikings will catch Philip Rivers early in his tenure as new Colts QB. And the Vikings have good memories of four Rivers turnovers contributing to a blowout victory over the Chargers in L.A. last season.
A nice stretch for the Vikings will be the three consecutive home games beginning with a late afternoon national doubleheader game against the Cowboys on November 22.
Another game of note is the December 13 matchup with Tom Brady at his new home in Tampa Bay.
The NFL season opener is Kansas City hosting Houston on Thursday night September 10 in a rematch of the Chiefs’ divisional playoff comeback victory from a 24 point deficit last January. Hopefully that game will kick off the 2020 season as scheduled.
Around the NFL Observations: At the end of this week, NFL teams will have completed the first three weeks of their virtual offseason programs for veterans that have been limited to classroom work four days per week for two hours per day. Coaches are able to spend more time with rookie players. The league also is allowing teams to conduct virtual workouts with their players.
The current agreement between the league and the players union states that all virtual offseason programs will end on June 26. And the NFL has dictated no team facilities will be allowed to open for on-field work until all teams are allowed by their state governments to open their facilities and return to work.
Jeff Diamond was the NFL Executive of the Year in 1998 after the Vikings' 15-1 season. He also is former president of the Tennessee Titans. He does sports/business consulting, media and speaking work including corporate and college speaking on Negotiation, Management, Leadership and Sports Business--contact him at diamondj4@comcast receiver off