The Minnesota Vikings hosted a public night practice on Thursday evening, the first of two they will host this year.
This is the first opportunity for most fans to come out and see the team practice, as 2:30 pm for the other practices can be difficult to attend considering the work week.
I was live for Vikings practice on Thursday night and the fans were into everything, even the drills at the start. What I took away was that this team continues to improve each day. Here are my eight main takeaways from practice on Thursday.
1. Brian Flores’ defense will be fun
All night, the Vikings’ defense was giving the offense fits. The defense had nearly a dozen sacks all night and was giving the offense a lot of trouble with the zero blitz looks with simulated pressures. The line of scrimmage gave real vibes of Mike Zimmer’s great defenses and that’s a good sign.
2. Brian Asamoah II looks primed to break out
The aggressive nature of this defense is primed for Brian Asamoah II to thrive. He is a projectile missile that is improving in terms of gap control in the running game. When he finds the right gap, Asamoah blows up the play. He had one of those in red zone drills that drew some oohs and ahhs from the crowd. He is the archetype that Flores likes to utilize and he will put Asamoah in positions to thrive.
3. Jay Ward looks comfortable
The biggest takeaway for me on defense was Jay Ward. He looked comfortable all across the defense, including a rep where he lined up on the line of scrimmage and got a pass breakup. He isn’t perfect, as he got burned by Jordan Addison on a corner route, but he looks both comfortable with his role and also on the field in general. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, as Ward had over 150 snaps at outside corner, slot corner, deep safety and in the box at LSU.
4. Jordan Addison could be the next big thing
It’s honestly too early to know for sure with it being his first training camp, but Jordan Addison looks to be the next great Vikings wide receiver. He has tremendous feet for a receiver and snagged an impressive touchdown on the back line of the end zone. I refuse to get hyperbolic with the praise for Addison, but he looks every bit the player that we thought he could be coming out of USC.
5. Jaren Hall is still a work in progress
Everyone knows how much I love Jaren Hall. He has the total package of a developmental quarterback for this system. What he isn’t is a finished product. He had some nice throws and made quality decisions, including taking advantage of a rushing lane for 20+ yards. His processing is too slow and he would get sacked in a real game situation. Live reps against the Seattle Seahawks next Thursday will show us a lot about where Hall is.
6. T.J. Hockenson suited up, but didn't practice
During both individual and team drills, tight end T.J. Hockenson was not participating. Instead, he was working on routes with an assistant coach off to the side. He didn’t seem to be injured and it was very peculiar. My initial thoughts are that he might be doing a similar “hold in” to what Hunter was doing, except just not participating in team drills. That is all speculation at this point, but it’s worth noting.
7. Ivan Pace Jr. is legit
As a UDFA, the hope is that they can work their way onto the team. Ivan Pace Jr. doesn’t just feel like a threat to make the team, he is playing like he wants to start week one. His skill set is best suited as a pass rusher and blitzer, but he was consistently finding the right gaps in the running game and has been running with the ones on occasion. I gave Pace a high fourth-round grade when I scouted him this past NFL draft cycle and there’s a chance I was too low on him.
8. Multiple players missed practice
Multiple Vikings didn’t practice on Thursday night with a couple of them being surprises. Marcus Davenport, Danielle Hunter, Andrew Booth Jr., Kene Nwangwu, Trishton Jackson and Jalen Nailor all missed practice. The only one that is somewhat of a mystery is Davenport, as he isn’t known to have an injury at this point.
O’Connell did say about Booth that “I want to make sure he’s seen the folks he needs to see.” Hopefully he returns to practice sooner rather than later.
