3 Vikings Camp Battles That May Already Be Over
The Minnesota Vikings wrapped up minicamp last month and have a week until the start of training camp.
3 Vikings Camp Battles That May Already Be Over
The club is expected to win about seven games in 2024, ironically the same total that followed it into the 2023 season.
And while training camp battles will heat up soon, these three roster battles may already be decided. They’re ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = battle that is most likely already decided)
3.
TE1
Robert Tonyan
The Contenders:
Robert Tonyan
Josh Oliver
Johnny Mundt
Nick Muse
N’Keal Harry
Sammis Reyes
Trey Knox
The Athletic’s Alec Lewis tweeted about Tonyan last month: “Robert Tonyan has looked great in minicamp. No hyperbole. Catching everything, snagged multiple passes in red-zone period today, outstretched arms, toe-tapping in corner of the end zone. Just impressive.”
Minnesota will probably be without T.J. Hockenson for a month or two to start the regular season, and if Tonyan holds serve in August, he could be the primary pass-catching TE1 in Week 1. He has a broader career resume than Oliver, Mundt, and Muse.
2.
QB1
Sam Darnold
The Contenders:
Sam Darnold
J.J. McCarthy
O’Connell has stated that, although Minnesota doesn’t have a formal depth chart yet, Darnold is the QB1. That checks out as McCarthy is still just 21 years old, and the Vikings don’t need him to blossom immediately.
Yet, because McCarthy is the quarterback of the future, onlookers want to see if he’ll at least make it a challenge for Darnold at training camp and in the preseason. As a 1st-Rounder, the young Wolverine should at least make the competition interesting.
Overall, folks will watch McCarthy with the utmost interest in the next two months — and for the next few years. He’s the one big hope to improve after the Kirk Cousins era.
O’Connell formally said in mid-June, “We haven’t had to put out a depth chart or anything like that, but I would say Sam would be the guy I would look to based on the spring he’s had and, really, where he’s at in his career and his quarterback journey, and what he’s been able to do coming in and [hitting] the ground running and taking advantage of the competitive situation.”
Darnold as the QB1, at least to start the season, feels like a done deal.
1.
Kicker
Will Reichard
The Contenders:
Will Reichard
Parker Romo
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert wrote about Reichard’s performance at minicamp, “During the team’s final OTA, which was moved indoors because of rain, Reichard nearly hit a balcony that is perched on the wall behind — and above — the goal posts while moving through a progression of 40+ yard attempts. Later, in a full drill with a defense, he drilled a 60-yarder that landed in a net that sits 10 feet behind the goal post and 10 feet off the ground.“
There’s just no way that Minnesota keeps XFL kicker Parker Romo over the highest kicker taken in the draft.
This would-be battle is already over.
Vikings Have a “Distressed Asset”
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 MIN obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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