He has 21 years of coaching experience while helping the Cowboys win the Super Bowl in 1995.
All of Minnesota’s free agent moves came on defense.
Breeland helped the Chiefs win the Super Bowl in 2019 with his risk/reward play in coverage.
Darrisaw’s game projects to have a high ceiling, but he has to decide if he wants to be an elite player.
Surratt has shown a high work ethic, pointing high upside once he improves his vision and decision-making in traffic.
Davis wants to beat his man to the punch after the snap, but his range is limited.
Jones spent plenty of time in the backfield in college, creating losses and sacks.
Nwangwu gets a knock for lack of experience with the ball in his hands, but he may still have plenty of room for growth.
Byrum plays at a high level with the tools to excel at many levels.
Davidson has an underdeveloped body while needing to get stronger.
Twyman puts up a standing fight in the run game that gets washed out by the big bodies.
In his first season with starting snaps, Dozier gave up a ton of pressure with losing value in run support.
Over his first two seasons after getting drafted in the first round, Bradbury underperformed in pass protection each year.
O’Neill showed growth in all areas over the past two seasons after getting drafted in the second round in 2019.
Four of their expected starters have a chance to rank above the league average, but each option is on a different path in their development.
The Vikings will run the ball well in the red zone, and better defensive play could lead to fewer passing attempts.
The Vikings’ running backs combined for 2,920 yards with 19 touchdowns and 98 catches in 2019 while finishing with close to the same stats in 2020 .
With an entire season of playing time, Cook would have a floor of 1,800 combined yards with 16 touchdowns and 60 catches.
In Week 5, Mattison came off the bench to gain 136 combined yards with three catches on 23 touches.
Fantasy Outlook: Mattison has an ADP of 137 in the early draft season, which is more favorable than 2020.
His game showed a significant edge when getting a defender in trail positions, where Jefferson showed the ability to make late adjustments to secure, tightly contested balls.
Minnesota doesn’t have a high-volume, pass-catching tight end, and no one has emerged to take a productive lead at WR3.
In 2020, the Vikings only looked his way 19 times, leading to 14 catches for 189 yards.
Johnson will improve with more experience while working hard to understand his game plan and how defenders want to play against him.
Fantasy Outlook: With Kyle Rudolph no longer on the roster, Smith has a clear path to 70 percent of the Vikings’ tight end opportunity.
Davidson worked as a back tight end the following season, leading to 11 catches for 239 yards and three touchdowns.
In need of a new kicker, the Vikings signed Joseph in early February.
Minnesota added Riley Patterson in May to compete for their placekicker job.
Over the last two seasons, Hunter has been an impressive player rushing the quarterback .
His trick is creating more depth in his pass rush moves while adding the finishing power to defeat the bigger bodies on the offensive line.
Over 60 career games in Baltimore, he only has 3.5 sacks, which paints him more of an early player defending the run.
Over his first four seasons with the Jets after getting drafted in the first round in 2013, Richardson developed into an elite run defender while also adding 18 sacks over 58 starts.
The addition of Tomlinson in the offseason gives Minnesota a third player with strength slowing down the run up the middle.
His run defense has been up and down in his career while ranking poorly in pass coverage in each of the past three full seasons.
Over his five years in the NFL, he only has nine sacks over 85 games, with four of those coming in his rookie season.
At the very least, he should work his way into a rotational role in his rookie season.
For most of his career with Arizona, Peterson lived on an island defending the opponents’ top wide receiver.
He typically is one of the better run defenders in the league for his position while minimizing the damage in coverage.
Over the last two seasons in Dallas, Woods made 149 tackles with two interceptions and six defended passes.
Injuries and the lack of development of their young players led to the Vikings’ defense falling to the bottom of the league in 2020.