Analysis

Wobschall Is The Guy To Follow Through OTA’s

May 31, 2012, by 17 comments

Mike Wobschall makes a living by being one of the Vikings biggest cheerleaders in writing and in front of the camera, so you won’t get much of the disappointing news from his stuff at Vikings.com, but he is also one of the best in the business.  Plus, when other media outlets are not allowed access to practices or other events, he is right there to make sure he keeps us informed.

Through the first two days of Minnesota’s OTA’s, Wobschall has been there to keep us updated on everything.  Here are some highlights, accompanied by links, as to how the first two days have been going.

DAY ONE OBSERVATIONS:  Wobschall tells us that cornerback Antoine Winfield looks to be 100% this offseason and describes him as “spry,” while wide receiver Jerome Simpson showed his capabilities stretching the field, receiver Bryan Walters looked very sharp.  More notes about which players looked good can be found at this link, too.

IMPROVEMENT ON OFFENSE:  The offense, led by quarterback Christian Ponder, is bound to take their lumps as the installation process progresses.  As noted by both Wobschall and Ponder, however, the offense showed marked improvement from day one to day two.

DAY TWO OBSERVATIONS:  Cornerback Chris Cook made one of the best plays of the session and it could have been a defensive score, defensive coordinator Alan Williams is making a Frazier-like impression on his players, middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley is bound and determined to show his critics that he can defend the pass, undrafted cornerback Bobby Felder is a name to keep an eye on as a sleeper candidate, while fullback Matt Asiata turned some heads by making a diving catch way down field.

VIDEO LINKS

Leslie Frazier press conference on Wednesday:  LINK

Christian Ponder press conference on Wednesday:  LINK

Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin continue their rehabilitation by pushing each other:  LINK

An NFL Network report from Minnesota’s OTA’s:  LINK

So… About That Asher Allen Fella…

May 30, 2012, by 3 comments

Earlier this offseason I predicted that cornerback Asher Allen, a 2009 third round selection out of Georgia, would not be on the opening day roster in 2012.

What I didn’t predict:  That it would be his choice.

By now, (I know, I know, I’m late on this… Happy Memorial Day everybody!) most of you have heard that Asher Allen informed the Vikings last Thursday that he will be retiring from football after having played three seasons with the team.

At age 24, the decision is a curious one, but Leslie Frazier thinks that in time Allen will explain that decision in full.  As of right now, however, both the team and the player are leaving it up to us to speculate as to the reasons why he retired.

“He’ll talk about it more at some point, but he explained to me that this was something he wanted to do. He had given it a lot of thought and that’s what he wanted to do,” Frazier said when he announced Allen’s decision on Wednesday.

With an onslaught of concussion coverage plaguing our normal enjoyment of the NFL these days, it is reasonable to suspect that Allen had worries about his life after football.  Allen has suffered two known concussions in his three year career, including one in week 15 of last season.

“Surprised. I didn’t see that coming,” admitted Frazier, “but everybody has to make decisions that are best for them.”

While I was admittedly not sold on Allen as any sort of reliable option at the corner position, he had plenty of supporters that were hopeful he would break out in 2012, and now we will never know the extent to which he could have produced on the NFL stage.

Davidson Proactively Introduced Kalil To Johnson

May 27, 2012, by 7 comments

Most of us would be a little taken aback if one day our boss came through the office and introduced a new employee… who would be taking your job, while you moved to another.

In the case of Charlie Johnson, it shouldn’t have come as too big of a surprise when the Vikings used their first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft on USC left tackle Matt Kalil, but offensive line coach Jeff Davidson wasn’t going to treat Johnson, or the situation, like it was no big thing.

Davidson immediately set up a meeting between Kalil and Johnson to try and make sure everybody knew exactly where they stood after it became apparent that Johnson would be moving to left guard.

“I just saw (Johnson) and explained to him, ‘You two guys are going to be best friends,’” said Davidson of the meeting. “And I introduced Charlie to his family, Matt’s family, as well. They all know who he is. I said, ‘There isn’t going to be any bad blood.’ And Charlie said, ‘I just want to win games.’ He does not care where he plays this game. He just wants to help us win. That’s the type of guy he is.”

“It wasn’t anything like, ‘Aw, man. Here it goes,’” said Johnson, explaining his feelings after the Vikings selected Kalil. “It was more of an ‘Alright, let’s go. Let’s get to work.’ I came up here the next day and he was up here eating lunch and talking. And I sat down and talked with him for a minute and it was on from there. So it was no big deal.

“There is no animosity,” Johnson continued.  “Look, I’m going to play. I feel that I’m one of the best five guys we have on our offensive line room. So I’m going to play. To me it doesn’t matter where it’s at.”

According to Davidson, it only took until week three of the 2011 season to figure out that Johnson might be better suited at the guard position, and he was more than willing to share that with Johnson.

“This was something that’s kind of been ongoing,” Davidson said. “I’m going to try and put it as nice as I can. I’m a no-nonsense guy. And essentially when I think that I see a guy and I know what he is capable of and what he would help us most at, I’m going to let him know that. Our postseason interviews that we had when I talked to Charlie, I said, ‘You may be our left tackle. You may be our left guard. I don’t know yet. We’re going to be better at two positions if we get a left tackle in here.”

“He is a good athlete so he was able to survive — the term I might use — at left tackle,” Davidson said of Johnson. “The fact that he has an opportunity to be able to use his athleticism as a puller, the smarts to be able to help our new left tackle, and transfer information from our center to that, he’s going to help fill the bill at guard. He can play any position on the line if we asked him to, in all honesty. I just think if we had to pick one for him it’s the offensive guard position. So this helps us in a lot of ways.”

Everyone is sure making it sound like the starting job at left guard is Johnson’s to lose, despite a hefty quantity of intriguing interior linemen ready to battle for employment during training camp.  If Johnson manages to thrive in his new role with the Vikings, he could finally be looking at long term certainty for his career, and the Vikings could finally be looking at long term certainty along their offensive line.

Matt Kalil will likely sign a four year deal with a fifth year option within the next few weeks, which will cement him as the franchise’s left tackle.  Center John Sullivan signed an extension in December that will keep him employed through the 2016 season.  Johnson, if he sticks as a left guard, has two seasons remaining on his contract.

Perhaps we can look forward to once again having a dominant left side of our line?

Gerhart Preparing To Be “The Guy”

May 24, 2012, by 1 comment

I have been pretty critical over the last two years of the Vikings trade forwards in the 2010 NFL Draft to select running back Toby Gerhart.

With Adrian Peterson being one of this offseason’s biggest question marks, however, it is comforting to know that the Vikings have such a quality option to lean on if Peterson needs a limited role, or if they need a full time starter.

“I’m just preparing to be the guy,” Gerhart said of the situation. “I try to do that every year, but this year it’s a little more prevalent. I’m doing everything I can to be here, work hard, work with the new guys we have coming in, pushing everybody and getting pushed by other guys. Preparing to be the guy, depending on whether Adrian comes back.”

Gerhart has six career starts, with five of them coming last season, and his numbers are nothing to scoff at.  Over 109 attempts Gerhart averaged 4.9 yards per carry, and also grabbed 23 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns.  Despite last season’s increased in touches, he improved upon the fumbling issues that worried us in his rookie season, and only fumbled once last season.

“I feel I’ve been able to work through it pretty nicely,” Gerhart said of his own, less serious knee injury from last year. “Coming back, it’s getting better and better, just rehabbing the last few months. Got out here for a little bit; being back out here taking care of it, and its feeling good running around.”

Despite Gerhart’s favorable numbers from last season, he said he sees plenty of room for improvement and will work on these items throughout OTA’s and training camp.

“For me, I’d like to be a little more agile in the second level,” he said.  “There were a couple of times coming through, about six to seven yards, if I can make a safety miss, it can be a bigger gain. Working on my feet a little bit, getting a little quicker, little shiftier left to right.”

Whether or not Gerhart gets his full time gig for any period of time remains to be seen.  Peterson not only seems hell bent on being back for week one of the regular season, but he even describes himself as “50-50” for training camp.

Links Of The Week: Slow Going

May 24, 2012, by No comments yet

This hasn’t been the most exciting week in the world of Vikings football, but I’ve always thought that in the least active portions of the offseason no news is good news.  Despite the lack of news, I have once again set out to scrounge up some reading material to occupy your work day.

Where Adam Takes An Early Stab At The 53 Man Roster

May 22, 2012, by 21 comments

It is early.  I repeat:  It is early.  I know this, I understand this… I get it.

Still, we could continue to beat ourselves up over the gory stadium details and fret about rookie contracts that are not (and never will be) a problem, or we can have some fun around here.  Of course, we could probably do all of that, but I’m feeling kind of lazy tonight so I’ll just stick to the fun stuff.

After the jump, I’m going to take a look at the 89 guys on the roster and attempt to predict (again, I know, it is early) the 53 man roster on opening day.  Feel free to give me your feedback, whether it is nice or not, in the comments section.

Enjoy!

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Pre-Camp Buzz

May 19, 2012, by 23 comments

Between now and the season opener, the Minnesota media will follow a very specific formula to make sure their sports pages are still interesting despite the relatively boring period of time that is the middle of the offseason.

I am, of course, referring to the strategy creating a scattershot of “fluff” pieces that will profile a player, perhaps give us a snapshot of their personal history, and leave us all with a hopeful message:  This guy could be the answer at his respective position.

I’m not saying these articles don’t serve a worthwhile purpose, and aren’t interesting to those of us that love our Vikings football, but I just want to help you temper your expectations by reminding you that these articles come and go every year.  Sometimes the player turns out to be a nobody (i.e. Logan Payne) and sometimes the player actually does become a contributor (i.e. Marcus Sherels) despite the stacked odds.

I’m not trying to be the poster child of pessimism.  Rather, I am just trying to keep your expectations in check, as it is always a dangerous time when the hopes of Vikings fans begin to rise.

Okay, so with all of that said, I want to highlight some stories about the pre-camp Vikings and how they are doing.  After the jump.

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