Good morning
Vikings fans. I received a question by way of twitter to get my thoughts on the
line backing corp.
We have had
6 practices with 3 being a walk through, one 2 hours no pads and now 2 padded
practices thus far.
What I am
seeing in the early stages is Chad Greenway, Erin Henderson and Marvin Mitchell
as the first stringers.
Greenway is
just a tackling machine as proven year after year. He did go through an offseason
surgery but seems to be moving pretty good. I believe when game 1 comes Chad
will be at full steam.
Erin
Henderson who made it to the NFL the hard way by way of being an undrafted free
agent is the middle linebacker in training. The few amount of practices the
team has had I can assure you of one thing. He does not lack on hustle or
enthusiasm. The practice that ended with Bobby Felder’s interception for a
touchdown had another part to it. Erin came flying down the field to congratulate
Felder almost as fast as Felder had gone up for the dunk. It really is going to
come down to game action for Erin. I just watch practice and it appears he has
the desire and want to be the team’s leader.
Marvin
Mitchell came to the Vikes last year so he does have a year of experience in
the system. The problem is he did not get the reps as a linebacker as we had
Greenway, Henderson and Jasper Brinkley, who you know we lost as free agent.
The one thing with Mitchell is he is in his 7th year in the league
and does come with 129 tackles in that span. This wills another guy to watch in
preseason.
The man who
think will make the team as solid as we have for quite some time is Desmond
Bishop who missed all of last year due to an injury.
Bishop who
played 5 years with the Packers had almost 300 tackles in that time. I have met
him at camp and he seems to be very excited to be back on the field. He is
playing with the 2nd team for now. I believe this gives him a little
more time to make sure he is ready.
He could be
the weapon we need especially playing against the NFC North teams. He knows
them well as he has 15 games under his belt against these teams. I predict he
will join Greenway and Henderson on opening day.
There are 10
linebackers in camp in totals with 6 coming from last year’s team. They are as
follows:, Audie Cole, Larry Dean, Chad Greenway, Erin Henderson, Tyrone
McKenzie, Marvin Mitchell all who were on last year’s team.
The men who
are competing for spots that are new are Desmond Bishop, Gerald Hodges, Michael
Mauti and Nathan Williams.
Hodges and
Mauti are draft choices and both come from Penn State. If you follow college
football you know Penn State puts out great linbackers. I am predicting in the
early stages these 2 guys make the roster.
I really
like the way the Vikes are building a team with youth so don’t be surprised
when the 53 man roster is announced and you see the team keep the younger guys
like an Audie Cole or the 2 draft choices.
Greenway,
Henderson, Bishop and Mitchell are all locks. I believe McKenzie will make it
because if his special teams experience and after that don’t be surprised by whom
they keep. I love the chance to have depth and the depth has youth in it.
Thanks for
reading
Purplestick
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