Sports
PurplePTSD: Vikings Young Guys Could Get A Lot Of Reps Vs. Chicago After All
Ahead of Week 18's meaningless (for playoff implications, anyway) matchup against the Chicago Bears, it seemed like Minnesota was going ...
Josh Frey
2022-01-09
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Ahead of Week 18’s meaningless (for playoff implications, anyway) matchup against the Chicago Bears, it seemed like Minnesota was going to be going full steam ahead with their starters. That is largely the case, but there are a few spots that seem to be thinner than others.
For one, the Vikings cornerback position is paper thin going into Sunday. Both Mackensie Alexander and Kris Boyd have been ruled out, leaving only two players from the 53-man roster available for this game: Patrick Peterson and Cameron Dantzler. Otherwise, Minnesota will have to rely on their three practice squad players: Parry Nickerson, Tye Smith, and Bryan Mills. Don’t be surprised if we see some of rookie Cam Bynum either.
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Additionally, it seems that at the last-minute, the Vikings will opt to sit Eric Kendricks for the season finale. In his stead, it will be second-year player, Troy Dye, getting the start at middle linebacker. This will be Dye’s first start of the 2021 season after holding a spot in the starting defense for five games in 2020. He still has seen some action, largely on special teams, this year. Playing in all 16 games, Dye has recorded 15 tackles this year. There were some promising moments with Dye last season as well as this preseason, so it will be interesting to see how he holds up against the Bears offense.
Finally, Michael Pierce has been ruled out of his ninth game of the season. This opens up the door for reps for guys like Armon Watts to get some additional playing time. Watts has been impressive in the time he’s played this year. In 16 games, including eight starts, he has put together 43 tackles, three TFLs, and nine QB hits, including five sacks. All in all, it should be interesting to see how well some of these young’uns do in what will likely be Mike Zimmer’s final game as head coach.
This press release was produced by the PurplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
