4 Vikings Make PFF’s NFC North Midseason Team
We are at the halfway point of the season. Pro Football Focus has been naming its midseason teams by division this week. Four Vikings make PFF’s Midseason team of the NFC North.
4 Vikings Make PFF’s NFC North Midseason Team
Unsurprisingly, the team is dominated by Detroit Lions players. Detroit is looking like a juggernaut after stacking six straight wins to move to a 7-1 record. Out of the 36 players named, the Lions have 14 representatives, the Packers have 6, the Vikings have 4, and the Bears have 2. The four Vikings that made it include three players you would have expected/hoped to be there and one that would have to be considered a surprise.
Sam Darnold
Getting the nod ahead of Jared Goff is Vikings QB Sam Darnold. PFF gives their reasoning;
There may be some surprise that Jared Goff isn’t the nod here, but the grades just don’t match the production in his case. Darnold has surprised pretty much everyone with his play (career-high 75.1 overall grade) and is fifth in the league for completions over 20 yards in the air (16).
Justin Jefferson
It is no surprise that Justin Jefferson is on the team; he’d be a shoo-in for the whole league team. Jefferson leads the league in receiving yards with 783 and also has five touchdown catches. Jefferson is a bonafide superstar. His PFF grade of 87.1 would be a career-low if the season ended now, having scored above 90 in each season of his career to date. Jefferson is joined on the team by Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jayden Reed.
Christian Darrisaw
Christian Darrisaw takes the left tackle spot as he was once again proving himself one of the best tackles in the league before his season-ending knee injury. PFF gave their view;
It’s unfortunate for Darrisaw that his season is now over, as he was the best left tackle by some distance. His 81.4 overall grade marked his third straight season notching an overall mark of 80.0 or better.
Jonathan Greenard
Jonathan Greenard was the Vikings’ big free agency signing this season, and it proved to be an excellent move. The Vikings have got top-end edge production at a relatively cheap price. Greenard had a breakout season in Houston last year, proving he was no one-season wonder. PFF grades him at 83.5 so far this season. Greenard leads the NFL with 48 pressures while also having 7 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, 2 pass deflections, and 1 forced fumble. All that production for just $19 million a year at one of the league’s prime positions, and the 27-year-old contracted for three more seasons.
Vikings That Missed Out
Brian O’Neill has been having an excellent season and would have taken the right tackle spot in many divisions. Unfortunately, this division has Peneii Sewell. Zach Tom is another excellent RT in the division, but it’s hard to envision anyone else in this position now or at the end of the season.
As stated in the PFF article, the kicker spot was between two rookies, but Will Reichard’s two field goal misses last week probably cost him the job. Lions kicker Jake Bates got the nod; he has been perfect at field goals and missed just one extra point. With Reichard now on IR for at least the next four games, he is unlikely to dethrone Bates.
Harrison Phillips has a claim to the second defensive interior, where Alim McNeill is the standout player in the division. PFF went with McNeill’s teammate Levi Onwuzurike, whose overall grade currently stands at 68.6 compared to Phillips’ 67.2. The Vikings NT had his best game of the season against the Colts last week, with a grade of 83.2. A few more games like that, and Phillips could force his way in.
Vikings Held Back By Injuries
Blake Cashman was also mentioned as just missing out at linebacker, where former Viking Eric Wilson edged him out. The veteran spent four seasons in Minnesota after being picked up as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He has taken his game to new levels since landing in Green Bay in 2022. Cashman has missed the last three games but could return this week. If he carries on from where he left off before injury, he will have a chance at being named to the end-of-season team.
With T.J. Hockenson only making his season debut in Week 9, there is no place for him. If he had been available, he may have made the team ahead of Sam LaPorta. The Lions TE is not having the dominating season he had in his rookie year, but with 300 yards and two touchdowns, he has still been a solid player. It would take something extraordinary from Hockenson over the next nine games to displace him.
Unsurprisingly, Jefferson and St. Brown were two of the three wide receivers named. The division is full of talented WRs who haven’t hit the heights their talent demands. Jordan Addison is one of those, along with the Bears trio of DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, and Jameson Williams from the Lions. Injury and lack of targets led to Addison’s slow start to the season, but he proved against the Colts that he could still have a significant role on the team alongside Jefferson. He will be hoping for more games where he touches the ball at least six times (5 catches/1 rush) so he build on his Week 9 performance.
You must be logged in to post a comment.