Marcus Davenport Has Been the Anti-Za’Darius Smith
Not much has gone right on the field for the Minnesota Vikings in 2023, and while that is largely a results-based issue, it is also valid for a specific player in the health department. While Za’Darius Smith flourished in his bounceback season with Minnesota, Marcus Davenport has done anything but.
Marcus Davenport Has Been the Anti-Za’Darius Smith
After playing just one game during the 2021 season with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota scooped up Za’Darius Smith, hoping to recapture his greatness while healthy. It was a three-year deal that would pay him $42 million. After producing ten sacks after getting out to a hot start on the year, Smith forced his way out and sought a higher payday.
Needing to replace Smith’s production alongside Danielle Hunter, who held out for his own payday, the Vikings turned to Marcus Davenport. The former New Orleans Saints edge rusher had a similar narrative as Smith’s; he was a talented player who couldn’t stay on the field. Smith produced nine sacks in 2021 for a career-high but dipped all the way down to just a half-sack last season in parts of 15 games.
Now, six weeks into his tenure with Minnesota, it has gone nothing like Smith’s season and is set to get exponentially worse. After suffering a high ankle sprain on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, Davenport is a candidate to go on IR and will at least miss a few games.
He has only played in four of Minnesota’s six games and started just three. He does have a pair of sacks to his credit, but finding an ability to get and stay on the field is not something he has shown during his tenure with the Vikings. Understandably, Davenport’s production would be down, given his lack of consistency for Brian Flores’ defense, but this outcome is nothing short of a disaster.
The Vikings were already thin at the edge position and brought Davenport in because of that. Hunter has had a strong year but will see offenses key on him even more, being virtually the only option at this point. D.J. Wonnum has had moments in limited action, but he’s yet to establish himself as a genuine threat now in his fourth year of professional action.
Losing a hypothetical talent up front is a brutal development for a Vikings defense that has consistently been synonymous with pressure this year. Flores has been blitzing like a madman, and removing anyone who can pressure opposing quarterbacks thwarts that effort. With the secondary struggling on a week-to-week basis, their jobs get harder with quarterbacks able to remain more comfortable.
The list of holes for general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to fill in the coming year is ever-increasing, and while this may be an opportunity for some youth to step up, it doesn’t help a competitive rebuild to go forward. After beating the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Minnesota is just 2-4 on the season, and the playoffs already seem out of the window. Although they have divisional competition to go, it won’t matter if they cannot put up a fight with a hurting roster.
Cleveland hasn’t gotten any of the good Smith from Minnesota last season, and Davenport hasn’t found the same success that Smith left with the Vikings, either.
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Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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