The 2023 Vikings, According to National Power Rankings | Pre-Minicamp
During the regular season, VikingsTerritory catalogs the Minnesota Vikings placement in all national power rankings. Seventeen sources are vetted, detailed, and plopped here for reference. Consider this is the post-draft or pre-minicamp edition.
Minnesota has around 40:1 odds of winning the Super Bowl in 2023. They’re also scheduled for a second-place finish in the NFC North, playing second fiddle to the upstart Detroit Lions.
Per EPA/Play, the Vikings owned the NFL’s 18th-best offense and 16th-best defense in 2022. Expected Points Added was not as rude to the Vikings defense as the DVOA metric.
The 2023 Vikings, According to National Power Rankings | Pre-Minicamp
[format = ranking entity: power ranking position]
- ESPN: 11th
- Bleacher Report: 14th
- NBC Sports: 14th
- Clutch Points: 14th
- Pro Football Focus: 14th
- Sportsnaut: 14th
- The Score: 14th
- Fox Sports: 15th
- Fansided: 15th
- The 33rd Team: 15th
- The Athletic: 16th
- NFL.com: 16th
- USA Today: 16th
- Pro Football Network: 17th
- CBS Sports: 17th
- SI.com: 19th
- Sporting News: 21st
The national average of these totals is 15.4. The world believes the Vikings are about the NFL’s fifteenth- or sixteenth-best team.
CBS Sports‘ Pete Prisco explained his 17th ranking for Minnesota, “They were a playoff team last year, but the defense was bad. The change to go to Brian Flores as the coordinator will be a good one. They will be much more aggressive, which is needed.”
At No. 21, Sporting News‘ Vinnie Iyer opined, “The Vikings overachieved based on their statistical profile, winning a lot of close games despite not having the right offensive and defensive numbers. That showed right away when they lost to the Giants in the playoffs. The rebuild beyond Kirk Cousins is just around the corner.”
Bleacher Report explained its 14th ranking, “The Minnesota Vikings are likely the most nervous 13-win team in the league. The Vikes won the NFC North last year but did so with a negative point differential before being unceremoniously bounced from the postseason in the first round.”
The 33rd Team‘s Paul Domowitch explained the good and bad of the Vikings, “The Minnesota Vikings added much-needed depth to their defensive secondary with the additions of third-round CB Mekhi Blackmon (scouting report) and fourth-round S/NCB Jay Ward. There still are questions about Kirk Cousins’ ability to take the Vikings to the next level. Even with Offensive Player of the Year Justin Jefferson to throw to last year, Cousins had 14 interceptions and averaged a career-low 7.1 yards per attempt.”
The Vikings report to minicamp on June 13th.
Former Vikings QB Tearing up USFL
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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