May 31st, 2010 
Mike Halldorson 
Posted in Over the next few weeks, I am going to take a look at each position on our insanely talented football team and see how I (along with all of you and your opinions) feel our roster will shape out. Today I’d like to start with our Defensive backfield. A position, as Vikings fans, has always left quite a bit to be desired.
Ok, to start there is talent in our defensive backfield that we, as Vikings fans, have never seen before. Some out there are extremely critical of our Safeties (whoever is playing at the time). It needs to be taken into account the style of D we play (Cover-2), in which Frazier keeps our safeties deep, basically saying that nothing gets past them.
This style of D provides for very few opportunities for our Safeties to put up stats, such as INTs, which makes some of you think they are awful. The best example being Sharper, his last year here many of you were screaming he was finished because he had decreasing INTs and also took some bad angles when trying to make tackles.
Well then he had a huge in playing in a “freelance” system in N.O. and all these Sharper doubters are saying the “never wanted him to leave” well I just kind of laugh. Could our safeties make more plays? Yes. Should they be dogged on for missing a tackle here and there?
Yes. But, as I said our D doesn’t really provide our S many shots at INTs, and if you’ve played football you know the hardest tackle to make is when a ball carrier has a few free yards to gain speed/make a move and is headed straight for a defender in the open field. So in all reality, they are basically doing what they are suppose to, keep the play in front of them. Anyway, enough of that, as you can tell the overdose of criticism they receive does bother me.
Looking at our safeties:
39 Husain Abdullah S 24 6-0 204 3 Washington State
– Colt Anderson S 24 5-10 194 1 Montana
37 Eric Frampton S 26 5-11 205 4 Washington State
25 Tyrell Johnson S 25 6-0 207 3 Arkansas State
33 Jamarca Sanford S 24 5-10 200 2 Mississippi
41 Terrell Skinner S 23 6-3 214 R Maryland
20 Madieu Williams S 28 6-1 203 7 Maryland
- Abdullah is a special team’s ace, that in versatile. He has played both CB and S. He runs around a 4.6 so he just doesn’t have the speed to be a starter, but is valuable on ST and in versatility.
- Colt Anderson is nothing more than PS fodder.
- Frampton has minimal skills as a position player, but is as valuable to our ST as Farwell. But can we really afford to have 5 (Farwell, Floyd, Frampton, Longwell, Kluwe) players that do nothing for this team aside from ST?
- Tyrell has his ups and downs last year. A good hitter, good speed (4.5), improved dramatically after Chilli pulled him last year, having his best games of his career in the playoffs, hopefully he can carry that momentum into ’10-’11.
- Sanford is the underdog we all love. The kid is a HUGE hitter and played the lights out when he saw time last year.
- I have heard a ton about this Skinner fellow since the draft. He reminds me a lot of Sanford. Made his share of plays in college (67/1/3 as a senior – 63/1/3 as a junior), but is physically limited (4.6). I think he has a chance to steal a spot from the Frampton/Abdullah combo.
- Williams, we all had huge expectations for him when he got his payday. Then he had that freak injury during camp (’09) and hasn’t seemed to stick his nose in there since.
- I believe the starting spots go to the two that have the best camp between: Madieu, Sanford, and Tyrell (personally, although Madieu is a GREAT human being for all he gives, is only an average football player) I see the starting spots ending up (even if not to start the season) as Sanford and Tyrell.
Although extremely beat up at the moment, the healing seems to be going very good. Cedric is already running around OTAs and all Winny (stress fracture) needed to heal was time; he should be 100% by now, or very soon. The best part of this though, is that we have some very talented young guys ready to fill in if needed.
21 Asher Allen CB 22 5-9 194 2 Georgia
31 Chris Cook CB 23 6-2 212 R Virginia
23 Cedric Griffin CB 27 6-0 203 5 Texas
22 Benny Sapp CB 29 5-9 190 7 Northern Iowa
29 Lito Sheppard CB 29 5-10 194 9 Florida
24 Marcus Sherels CB – – – R
36 Angelo Williams CB 22 5-11 185 R Ferris State
26 Antoine Winfield CB 32 5-9 180 12 Ohio State
24 DeAndre Wright CB 24 5-10 198 1 New Mexico
- I am a HUGE Allen fan, I think he is an AW clone, but with better ball skills.
-Frazier took 2 trips (aside from his proday and the senior bowl) to see Cook this offseason. The guy has speed (4.4), size, and determination (because D-captain after losing a year for academics). Cook accels in press coverage, and also gives us a big body to put up against players like Megatron, Moss, Colston, etc…
-Benny Sapp has improved every year with us, and is a very good nickel back with the ability to be a spot starter.
-Lito, well he WAS a probowler a few years ago. Is only 29, but hasn’t played very well the last two years, being benched in NY last year. But I have hope because our last acquisition from the J-E-T-S Jets worked out pretty well.
-AW is not getting any younger, but did get an extension last year basically guaranteeing he finish his career here, even if it’s as a Nickel/Dime back.
-Cedric has become a top-notch cover-2 CB. Only problem being he has a new ACL. He will probably be ok after starting the year on the PUP list, but may need all the way until next year to be the Ced we were used to seeing last year.
- Wright, Williams, and Sherels (who has looked very good in OTAs) are all PS at best. We just have simply too much talent at CB (for once).
Honestly, this is the most interesting training camp battle to watch. AW starts at LCB. Griff will get his job at RCB back at some point. The interesting thing is what plays out in between. I can easily see Cook being CB3 allowing AW to move inside in nickel situations, giving us 2 big CBs defending the outsides (especially in the redzone). Sapp has been here 2 years now and has made some big plays. Lito has the resume. All Allen did last year was make plays in limited time last year. So your guess on who gets PT during Griff’s absence is as good as mine.
When it gets down to it, Chilli seems to like to bring rooks along slowly (even AP didn’t start at first as a rook) so I think that hurts Cook’s chances. BUT, do we really want to give up all that size (AW, Sapp, Allen, Lito – all at 5-10 or less) going up against huge, high jumpers, like Megatron, Moss, Colston? Lito has a history with Chilli and Frazier, but still is on the down slope of his career, I think he struggles to make the team.
I believe Sapp & Lito are playing for 1 roster spot (well once Griff recovers) or potentially playing to see who moves to FS.
Our CBs to start the year are LCB – AW, RCB – Cook, Nickel – Allen, Dime – Lito, Reserve – Sapp (even though he sticks and Lito goes when Griff returns).
We have three very young CBs (Griff, Cook, Allen) ready to lead us into the next decade with the most potential talent the Vikings have had at CB.
In summary, this group of DBs is probably the best we’ve EVER had. There will be a few very talented guys getting handed pink slips at the end of cuts. But if I were to set the depth chart, our top 5 DBs go like this:
FS – TJ
SS – Sanford
RCB – Cook (until Griff can play)
LCB – AW
Nickel – Allen (Cook)
Dime – Lito (Allen)
Reserve/ST – Sapp
** Lito gets the pink slip when Griff returns**
So there you have it, my take at what I believe will be the best, and most compelling roster competition on the ’11 Vikings.
good job, Mike!
GOING, GOING…………………….VIKES!!!!!
Maybe our S’s will learn to cover the opposing tight end this year???
Go Vikes
I’d be very suprised if Cook beats out Lito. But agree other than that.
“So there you have it, my take at what I believe will be the best, and most compelling roster competition on the ‘11 Vikings.”
So, are we skipping a year of analysis, or is this like how Madden names his video games?
well i said it earlier, guess I took the shortcut here… the best competition on the ’10-’11 vikings then
Always concerned with the roster if filled with B-/C+ guys at any position.
It is critical to have health for d-backs this year….but someone has to step up to the B+ level or above to complement AW.
I’m thinking Sanford/ Cook are the best suited to ‘impress’.
Fozz, do u mean Ryan Cook? The film I saw on Chris Cook was less than impressive.
His film was pretty vanilla….but it sounds like he’s got the skillset necessarty to excel at this level…..something many of the others do not.
Fozz, not too long ago Adam had a post saying how first year cb’s rarely make an impact.
u think madieu williams will sit on the bench? i think if anyone does it’s Tyrell Johnson. I’d love to see more of Sanford!
tyrell has been better than madieu barely but better , madieu is a great person off the field but sucks on the field ….and tyrell has youth on his side and unlike madieu doesnt give up on a play . so i see them putting tyrell in madieu spot and putting Jamarca Sanford in tyrells old spot . if u look at tyrells rookie yr when he had to play early he seemed better at madiue spot ..and Sanford is just a beast can i say a small Brian Dawkins in trianing . i would love to see him suplex reggie bush like dawkins did to that redskin
I agree, Tyrell looked much better at FS as an inexperienced rook than he did as a “well prepared” starting SS in his second year. 1490 might be on to something here…
The Vikings believe their safeties are interchangeable and IMHO this is BS ~
Sharpers play fell off big time when he was moved from FS to SS in 2008 and the same thing happened to Williams when Sharper was let go in 2009 ~ Williams was then moved to SS so Johnson could play FS and they looked ugly ~
In 2008 everyone in the local Minn. media was calling for Griffins head in the first 7 games when Johnson was playing for a injured Williams (neck) but once Williams was healthy enough to start playing Griffin’s play picked up well enough that he got a new 5 year contract ~ The only thing that changed was Johnson was on the bench were he need to be ~
As a rookie Johnson wasn’t ready and it showed big time IMHO ~ He is still very much the weak link in my eyes not that means I know what I’m talking about ~ LOL
I’m hoping that if Johnson play hasn’t improved greatly that Sanford will push Johnson back on the bench ~ From what I have read the Vikings seem to believe Sanford is more of a SS so that would let Williams move back to FS were he played his best football as a Viking to date ~ He and Griffin did a good job of taking care of their side of the field and not letting any one get deep ~ Williams and Griffin played the run to their side much better than Griffin and Johnson who take very bad angles most of the time ~
JMHO ~
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/06/01/vikings-could-be-sleeper-for-atogwe/
Saw that CC. Who do you think gets the ax if we get him?
I hope not, CC. I think he is a tad over-rated. He had a pretty good season a few years back, but he is getting older…
Starr, you think its a bad idea? I would take this dude over our current starters. Pair him with Sanford and we have something special at the safety position. Just my opinion.
How sweet, NFL network highlighted the 2005 wildcard game between Pack n Vikes. Seeing Sharper and Al Harris get torched is priceless.
I found it somewhat bitter to see Favre play horrible in a big game and then to see Longwell miss a 30 yarder. I actually did not care for that coverage as much as I should have.
They were Packers then starrc. I loved it.
The Moss Moon was a great moment. Seeing the poor Packer fans reaction=
Priceless.
Nice analysis but I have to disagree on many points.
Frampton & Abdullah are special team guys ONLY. They cannot even backup their own positions. Sanford got in the game before they did and Sanford was a rookie. We are also doing this at LB. IMHO it is never a good idea to have the backups at positions NOT actually being able to play, and play fairly well, if needed. In fact, it would be ideal if these guys were being groomed to take over for an aging vet (Winfield) or high priced vet (Madieu).
Keep in mind as well that these guys will be entering their 3rd & 5th years and each year they play they make more money per the mandated minimum based on years in the league. So when cut time comes around do not be surprised if some of the ST favorites of some are let go. And it will be for financial reasons too.
That leaves us Madieu, Tyrell, & Sanford as reasonable (and that is being generous with Sanford) safeties. Atogwe could be a consideration.
At CB it is surprising that so many are penciling in Cook as a starter. Cook did nothing in college. He did not make all anything in the ACC. Not even honorable mention. Yet he is going to start over Lito who is a two time pro bowl CB who only lost his job last year because he got hurt. The only way Cook starts over him or Allen is if one of them gets hurt. Cook was a post season riser that wowed everyone with his athleticism (i.e., without PADS ON). I aint buying it until he does something with PADS ON and in a game. Preseason games will not be much of a test because many teams do not show much of their offense. Yet he is going to start? Please.
With AW, Lito, Sapp, & Allen we are OK until Griffen gets back. Cook will have to play EXCEPTIONALLY to get a starting job. And he did not do this in college which is how I kind of like use as a guide as to their pro abilities.
IMHO Frazier is on the hot seat. Let’s look at the DBs the Vikings have acquired under his watch. And he is suppose to be a DB coach first (i.e., his SPECIALTY).
Madieu Williams, Marcus McCauley, Eric Frampton, Husain Abdullah, Karl Paymah, Benny Sapp, Asher Allen, Tyrell Johnson, Colt Anderson, Terrell Skinner, & Chris Cook.
Not to good if you ask me. I am hoping that the “lights’ have come on and he has now turned the corner (pardon the pun) on his evaluation process with the additions of Allen, Cook, & I am hoping Tyrell.
Otherwise, besides Madieu & Sapp it is horrible.
Maybe that is the real reason he cannot get hired as a head coach? If the unit you supposedly specialize in, consistently finishes in the bottom third of the league rankings, then what does that say?
Not too impressive.
All I’m basically saying is Chris Cook has not done squat yet or in college and now I am suppose to believe that he can start?
I think the secondary has a chance to be better. At least I hope they do. But that is all I got is HOPE right now.
Agreed Triple H. Especially on the cookie monster run down. That’s all I’ve been trying to say for the longest. Double A is in fact skilled. Cook hasn’t done anything yet.
I’d jump on Atogwe faster that a Percy Harvin juke.
Instead of ‘hoping’ one or ‘our’ guys morphs into a B+/A- dback…..they land this dude. It’s a championship quality move…get it done.
How about adding O.J Otagwe to the safety mix??? He didn’t sign his tender and rams refused to tender him at the highest level of %110 of his 09 salary.. So he is now an unrestricted free agent which means we have no final four restrictions on us.. If we signed he would plug straight in as a solid starter and someone who Tyrell Johnson could learn a lot from.. Why not improve our team? Chilly always says they are looking for any player who would upgrade our roster.. This could be the guy??
Sorry Dude. I have to strongly disagree with your take on Sheppard. He stays in my mind. His problems last year were more with the front office not willing to cut him his bonus. Many top insiders said he did well after coming back from injury last year. Also, if your prediction that Griff will be slow or not the same until next year and, Cook will be on a tight leash then, there is no way Lito gets usurped for the likes of Sapp. Another injury is the only thing that stops Lito this year.
peace
HeHateMe, We don’t have Marcus McCauley or Karl Paymah anymore. Just to let u know.
oh sorry, I miss-read it.