Vikings Allow a Frightening Idea to Slip Out at TCO Performance Center

Is Jonathan Greenard — the NFL’s 48th-best player, per the league’s player poll — still getting better?
Brian Flores, the defensive coordinator for the Vikings, believes so. If Flores proves to be correct, then the NFL is confronting a scary reality. Already, Greenard is among the games’ best edge rushers, someone who is a weekly menace. Seeing him push his game even further will mean that Flores’ crew could be even more potent.
Vikings Allow a Scary Thought Out of TCO
Start off with the assessment from Coach Flores, one of the most sophisticated defensive minds in the NFL.
“I think he’s certainly, there’s more left there,” Flores explained last weekend. Not too long afterwards, the defensive coach offered a couple more thoughts: “He’s worked on his pass rush, he’s worked on setting the edge in the run game, but also, ‘how do I set somebody else up?’ And I think he’s that kind of unselfish player.”
Just watching Greenard at training camp recently, it’s clear that he offers some excellent leadership and energy. He’s disruptive on the field and supportive of his teammates (something that shined through when Tyler Batty had a massive hit).

Greenard is a key component of Minnesota’s defense, someone who is commonly asked to pin his ears back to get after the quarterback.
In 2024, Mr. Greenard did just fine with that assignment. The veteran edge rusher played in all seventeen games, offering up a career-high 918 defensive snaps in the process (good for 81% of the defense’s total). He finished the season with 59 tackles and 12 sacks. There were then 22 QB hits, 18 tackles for loss, 4 forced fumbles, and 3 passes defended.
So, we’re talking about someone who offered clear-cut EDGE1 production. He was rightly sent to the Pro Bowl while finishing at 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Recently, Jonathan Greenard chatted with Darren Wolfson. The veteran describes his effort to improve, noting that he’s “not going to reinvent the wheel.” Nevertheless, there’s a desire to “perfect the craft” while upping his game from “good” into “great.”

In the 2024 offseason, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah reinforced his edge rusher spot by signing Greenard alongside Andrew Van Ginkel, saying goodbye to Danielle Hunter in the process (a decision I disagreed with at the time). The deal for Greenard came in at four years and a total of $76 million. Yes, large money, but nowhere near what some edge rushers are getting paid. The $19 million/year average is well short of the high-end for edge rushers, such as the pair (Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt) who see the average at $40+ million/year.
Jonathan Greenard is 28. As long as health cooperates, the edge rusher could offer strong football for several more seasons.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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