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Vikings Territory: Top 4 Vikings Items To Watch In Final Preseason Game
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Dustin Baker Dustin Baker
2021-08-27
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The Minnesota Vikings final preseason romp will take place Friday night at the home of the 2019 Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Not on Friday night, though. We’ll get Patrick Mahomes vs. Kirk Cousins for the first time, albeit in an exhibition capacity.
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If not Westbrook, Osborn, or Smith-Marsette, the incumbent Chad Beebe is probably the “safe” bet. But he is an ordinary player, best served on most NFL teams as a WR4 or WR5. With the other three (Westbrook, Osborn, and Smith-Marsette), the potential is there for Minnesota to finally utilize an honest-to-goodness WR3.
Minnesota signed Everson Griffen on Monday after an offseason-long flirtation with the idea. A plot twist, however: Griffen will allegedly be used as a “situational pass rusher” in 2021, not the keynote guy like he was for several years with the Vikings.
The second-year sacker of Aaron Rodgers seems to be rising to power on the Vikings defensive front. He’s made plays all throughout the summer, and his stock might have accordingly surpassed that of Stephen Weatherly. Although, Weatherly is still listed as RDE1 on the Vikings depth chart.
The same logic for RDE Watch goes for Anthony Barr’s position. Barr’s injury plight is oddly mysterious, and that means all eyes are on the strongside linebacker spot versus the Chiefs. If Barr is a no-go in September, somebody will usurp those snaps. As of now, there is no obvious replacement.
A Barr-less Vikings team is sadly familiar to the 2020 Vikings, a group that uncharacteristically struggled with tackling and pretty much everything besides 3rd Down Proficiency. Thankfully, Barr is the only big defensive injury at the moment, enabling the slack to be carried by a reasonable replacement like Dye or Wonnum.
Both Vikings preseason games thus far were rancid. Zimmer rested 30 players during the first one. Therefore, he deserved a beatdown against the Denver Broncos. There were no excuses, though, versus the Indianapolis Colts. The first-team offense – and everything else sans some defense – was lifeless.
If only for folks’ panic meters, a competent showing in Kansas City will tame some anxiety.
This press release was produced by Vikings Territory .The views expressed here are the author’s own.
