On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to start the 2023 NFL season. Both teams won their divisions last season and have a solid chance to do it again this season.
The NFC North and NFC South are wide open for the taking with the departures of star quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Both teams debut new coordinators, with Minnesota toting Brian Flores on defense and Tampa Bay hiring former Seattle quarterbacks coach Dave Canales as their offensive coordinator.
Buy Vikings TicketsBefore they go into battle, it’s good to establish who has the advantage heading into the game. Who has the edge as far as talent goes? We explore that in this exercise as we go position by position and discuss who has the advantage going into Sunday.
Quarterback
Advantage: Minnesota
This is a no-brainer. Baker Mayfield is coming off a season where he went 2-8 as a starter and got traded in the middle of the season. He’s learning a new offense, new terminology and getting acclimated to new receivers. Kirk Cousins heads into year two of a system that helped him lead a top-ten offense last season. There isn’t much debate on where the edge goes.
Running Back
Advantage: Minnesota
Both running back rooms are unproven. However, the tandem of Alexander Mattison and Ty Chandler trump the duo of second-year Rachaad White and rookie Sean Tucker. Mattison has four years of experience backing up Dalvin Cook, and Ty Chandler has flashed as a ball-carrier this pre-season. Not to mention fullback C.J. Ham there to open holes and for short-yardage situations.
White adds another element to the Tampa offense with his pass-catching ability. Tucker has home-run potential with his speed and quickness. However, the consistency of the run game with Mattison and Chandler trumps the unpredictability of the boom-or-bust nature of White and Tucker.
Wide Receiver
Advantage: Minnesota
The Bucs have a good receiving corps. Mike Evans is guaranteed to give 1,000 yards a season. Chris Godwin has the ability to affect the game from both the slot and outside, if necessary. Rookie Trey Palmer showed impressive ability to take the top off a defense with his blazing speed.
But Minnesota has Justin Jefferson, arguably the best receiver in the league. They replace Adam Thielen, a reliable second option, with former Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison. Rounding out the receiver trio with power slot K.J. Osborn gives Minnesota a slight edge over Tampa Bay.
Tight ends
Advantage: Minnesota
Outside Cade Otton, a plus-starter, the Bucs tight end room has seven receptions and 80 total yards. TE/FB Ko Kieft and rookie Payne Durham must step in and produce immediately.
Minnesota’s tight end room consists of the newly-minted highest-paid tight end in T.J. Hockenson and former Baltimore Raven Josh Oliver. Johnny Mundt also got meaningful snaps last season, with Nick Muse as relief.
Minnesota’s room seems more talented and has more tenure, so they get the easy edge here.
Offensive Line
Advantage: Tampa Bay
With the loss of center Ryan Jensen, the Bucs offensive line will rely on left tackle Tristan Wirfs to lead by example. The move from guard to right tackle should help Luke Goedeke play more fluently. Tampa added 31-year-old Matt Feiler to play the left guard spot and have third-year offensive lineman Robert Hainsey snapping the ball at center. Overall, this room should still be serviceable, but the loss of Jensen really hurts any feelings of further optimism.
For Minnesota, they return the same starting five from last season. A top tackle tandem in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill hold down the edge. The trio of Ezra Cleveland, Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram are in the interior. On one side of the coin, this is a good thing. They have some semblance of continuity and familiarity with each other, an essential part of good offensive play. However, last season, this same starting five wasn’t very good. They allowed the second-most pressures and ninth-worst pressure rate in the league.
Because of the projection necessary, I have to give the edge to the unit who stayed near the bottom of the league in pressures (fifth-best) and pressure rate (best) in Tampa Bay.
Defensive Line
Advantage: Tampa Bay
There is only one Vita Vea in the NFL. Vea is still only 28 years old and wreaking havoc for Tampa Bay. His linemate Logan Hall is going into his sophomore season out of the University of Houston. On the other side, first-round draft pick Calijah Kancey out of Pittsburgh has earned a starting spot on the Bucs defensive line. A lot of uncertainty surrounds this Bucs line, but there is a lot of talent and opportunity for this line to be good. William Gholston, Mike Greene and Greg Gaines are all good rotational players.
Harrison Phillips, who Minnesota acquired after his first four years with the Buffalo Bills, is the nose tackle for the Vikings. Phillips is accompanied by Jonathan Bullard and former Green Bay Packer Dean Lowry. There is nothing really flashy about this lineup. It should be a solid group that is serviceable against the run. Against the pass, the assessment isn’t so bright. They do have Brian Flores, though. He’s known to manufacture pressure from any spot on the defense, so that should help.
As far as who has the edge, however, it has to be Tampa Bay. Even if it’s just the presence of Vea in the middle.
Linebackers
Edge: Tampa Bay
This group for Tampa Bay is loaded with talent. On the outside, there’s former Defensive Player of the Year, Shaq Barrett and the always dangerous Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. On the interior is the tandem of Devin White and Lavonte David. While they had a down year last year, they are an interior duo that has played together since 2019 and have looked in sync ever since.
For Minnesota, the outside linebacker group is made up of Danielle Hunter and newly acquired Marcus Davenport. With the loss of Za’Darius Smith, Hunter and Davenport are called upon as the primary rushers of the quarterback. On the interior, Brian Asamoah is starting his first year calling the defense with ninth-year veteran Jordan Hicks alongside him. Asamoah and Hicks will be asked to do a lot in coverage with Flores’ attacking style of defense.
The edge goes to Tampa Bay for the talent and continuity that they bring with their linebacker group.
Cornerback
Edge: Tampa Bay
Jamel Dean and Carlton Davis return for their second year of starting across from one another. Their first year was a good one as they both were solid in coverage, for the most part. They come back into another year of Todd Bowles’ scheme, so there’s the continuity there, and they have a little bit of help in second-year corner Zyon McCullum and Dee Delaney.
The Minnesota Vikings have questions at the cornerback position. The only answer in a room full of questions is Byron Murphy, Jr. After that, there’s the question of how reliable can Akayleb Evans be in his second year. Where is Andrew Booth? Can we trust Mekhi Blackmon amid his size concerns?
With all of the questions surrounding Minnesota, I have to give the edge to Tampa Bay.
Safeties
Advantage: Draw
The safeties for Tampa Bay are versatile in a way that’s intriguing. Bowles enjoys giving different coverage looks to a quarterback to allow his pass rush to get home. Antoine Whitfield, Jr. and Ryan Neal have the versatility to play up in the run fits and cover the middle of the field. They like Whitfield to play more of the middle-fielder role, but overall, both safeties are comfortable in coverage. Behind them, the room is two rookies: Kevon Merriweather from Iowa and Christian Izien from Rutgers.
Harrison Smith comes back for his 12th season as a Minnesota Vikings. The allure of Brian Flores’ attacking style was enough to keep the defensive staple back for another year and help develop young safeties Cam Bynum, Josh Metellus, Lewis Cine and Jay Ward. All four of them are under 24 and have their own unique skills they bring to the position.
Both rooms are versatile and play to the strengths of the defensive coordinator’s playcalling. It’s a draw.
Specialists
Advantage: Minnesota
After an okay 2022, Chase McLaughlin signs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this off-season. He was perfect on extra points last season and was 83.3% on field goals. Jake Camarda’s 48.8 yards per punt ranked fourth in the league last season. However, Camarda also led the NFL with ten touchbacks.
Greg Joseph had a good season last season. He was virtually automatic with anything under 50 yards. His best moment was icing the New York Giants with a 61-yard field goal to win that game. Minnesota’s punter Ryan Wright had a top ten percentage in punts that landed inside the 20-yard line with 43.8%.
Given the consistency with both Joseph and Wright, the slight edge goes to the Vikings.
