What Happened to Jonathan Greenard’s Sack Production?
Last season, a big part of the Minnesota Vikings’ success came from a pair of new edge rushers terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel proved to be great signings in 2024, becoming a revelation on the edge, where, between the pair of them, they did everything. However, the Vikings aren’t having the same success from the edge in 2025.
VikingsTerritory examines the sacks from Jonathan Greenard’s game, as the Vikings edge rusher has only tallied one so far this season.
Both Greenard and Van Ginkel got in on the sacks early last year and continued the momentum throughout the season. Both edge rushers finished in the top 10 for sacks across the league last season – Greenard had 12 and Van Ginkel had 11.5.
Despite playing in only two games, the pair of sacks Van Ginkel recorded in eight defensive snaps against the Bengals in Week 3 is more than Greenard’s, whose only sack so far this season came in Week 2 against the Falcons. Interior defensive lineman Jalen Redmond leads the team with three sacks.
This isn’t to say Greenard is playing poorly; he is not. He is an all-around good edge rusher and is getting plenty of pressure on the opposing quarterback.
Pressure can still break down plays and make good things happen. Unfortunately, as we saw on Sunday, some of the talented modern QBs, like Jalen Hurts, can escape pressure and make magic happen. Hurts doing that for the Eagles was the big difference between the two teams at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday. Greenard is the team leader with (number) pressures, but we need to see more than one sack across six games. As a team, the Vikings have 16 sacks, which ranks 12th across the league.
Vikings Defense, Jonathan Greenard Needs to Make More Impact Plays
It seems a touch harsh to criticize the Vikings’ defense when they’ve often been put in tough spots by the inconsistencies on the team’s offense. However, the idea this season was always for the team to lean on the defense as JJ McCarthy developed.
Another injury has meant that development has stalled, but the same applies when a team has to turn to its QB2. The defense needs to do a lot of the heavy lifting while the offense works itself out.
Being around the middle of the pack in sacks has to be seen as a disappointment, given that big money and a first-round pick were spent on edge rushers last season, and even more money was spent on interior pass rushers this season.
A defense that has been so good at creating turnovers in recent seasons has suddenly run cold. There were two forced fumbles to end the game in Chicago, one forced fumble against Atlanta, and then the huge Isaiah Rodgers-led defensive performance against Cincinnati in Week 3.
Three forced fumbles and two interceptions, which resulted in a couple of defensive touchdowns for Rodgers, led to a comprehensive win over the Bengals.
We saw the recipe for success for this current Vikings team on that day, but the turnovers have vanished. There has been nothing since Week 6. An increase in sacks, led by the team’s premier pass rusher, Greenard, is certainly part of the solution for bringing those turnovers back.
Brian Flores’ defense thrives on getting teams behind the chains, so they can bring the heat with their exotic pass rush scheme. If Minnesota is going to make any noise this season, the chances of that appear to be dwindling in most people’s eyes. It’s going to have to start with defence, certainly to begin with, and then hope McCarthy can get on the field, develop, and make the difference the offense needs.
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