Vikings

2022 - 8 - 14

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Sports Illustrated"

Four Takeaways From the Vikings' Preseason Opener: Ty Chandler ... (Sports Illustrated)

Rookies who stood out, players who struggled, and other observations from the Vikings' loss to the Raiders.

Asamoah instantly recognized that the Raiders were pitching it to Zamir White, so he angled himself perfectly and looked like he was shot out of a cannon as he chased down White for a TFL. He's not going to fill an every-down role this season unless Eric Kendricks or Jordan Hicks miss time, but the Vikings should be able to find ways to use him on defense and special teams. Look at this pass rush move from Tomlinson to set up a Phillips sack: I think suggesting Mattison could be traded is a bit of an overreaction to one game, but I also understand where that idea comes from. If he can continue playing at a high level during the remainder of the preseason, he should start at RG against the Packers in Week 1. Chandler also set up the Vikings' first touchdown with a 56-yard kickoff return in which he bounced off of first contact and sprinted upfield. And as we saw against the Raiders, the Vikings' depth at the position doesn't end there. Davis — who has spent the vast majority of training camp as a starter, but recently ceded some first-team reps to Ingram — played the first two series of the game with the 1s. He showed great speed, acceleration, vision, and even broke a tackle to pick up a first down after making a catch. Ingram also held up well in pass protection for the most part, giving up one pressure on 17 pass blocking snaps. Alexander Mattison, the Vikings' No. 2 RB, has over 1,800 total yards and eight touchdowns over the past three seasons. What matters are the individual performances by players up and down the roster, whether they're established starters or long shots fighting to make the team.

What do rookies mean to the Vikings? After one preseason game it's ... (Sports Illustrated)

Lewis Cine, Andrew Booth Jr. and all the rookies made their debut but what it meant to each is less clear -- except Ty Chandler, who put his name on the ...

Linebacker Brian Asamoah was the first off the bench at his position. “It sounded like our guys were real competitive and maybe just it was more the illegal contact and a couple of holding calls there,” O’Connell said. The fact that Cam Dantzler played into the second quarter possibly pointed to a shade of competition between him and Booth Jr. but neither saw enough action to push the needle one way or the other. Next week there will be more chances as the Vikings share the practice field with the 49ers, who are certain to push the ball into his stratosphere, particularly if Trey Lance airs it out in the second preseason contest. If Cine came in hoping to put his name on the map, Stidham made sure that wasn’t possible by never throwing downfield. With everyone healthy and ready to roll, it appeared there would be an opportunity to get some hints about where each player would fit into the lineup and what their outlook for 2022 might be.

Vikings Snap Counts: QBs Balanced & Hefty Dose of Cine & Booth (Vikings.com)

EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings fell 26-20 Sunday in their preseason opener against the Raiders in Las Vegas. The game provided an opportunity for Head Coach ...

He was on the field for 27 snaps. — Defensive lineman James Lynch played 27 defensive snaps, one more than outside linebackers Pat Jones II and D.J. Wonnum. CB Cameron Dantzler, Sr., and S Camryn Bynum each played 26 snaps. Surratt tied with Dorn for the most snaps on special teams (12 each). Rookie CB Akayleb Evans also played 31 snaps on defense, along with Janarius Robinson, who led all outside linebackers. — Defensively, the Vikings had four players who were on the field for 34 or more snaps. TE Ben Ellefson (23) and WR Trishton Jackson (22) were the only two other players with more than 20 snaps on offense. The game provided an opportunity for Head Coach Kevin O'Connell to have his first game-day trial run in the role.

This play showed off Brian Asamoah's ridiculous sideline-to-sideline ... (Vikings Wire)

Minnesota Vikings rookie linebacker Brian Asamoah destroys a run play for the Las Vegas Raiders in this clip from Sunday's preseason opener.

The future is bright for the third-round pick out of the University of Oklahoma. But don’t sleep on Asamoah’s ability to slowly start eating into some of those snaps. Opportunity came knocking at linebacker with Eric Kendricks being listed as one of the 10 Vikings starters that were inactive for the game.

Vikings Territory Breakdown: Preseason Begins (Vikings Territory)

The Vikings travelled to Las Vegas this past weekend as the preseason got underway, not to bet on themselves to win the Super Bowl (they can't do that, ...

Tune into the VT Breakdown podcast and check out our assessment as the Vikings first preseason of the season and get ready for number two this week. Booth will turn it around, as he gets used to the league and the position, but many of us were probably hoping for more. The Vikings travelled to Las Vegas this past weekend as the preseason got underway, not to bet on themselves to win the Super Bowl (they can’t do that, the betting part, I mean), but to face the Raiders in their first preseason game of the 2022 season.

Minnesota Vikings among the biggest draws in NFL, report says (Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal)

The Vikings, fresh off a preseason loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, pulled an attendance percentage of 96.9% for both home and away games.

There are 32 teams in the NFL. The team also tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for the highest average attendance percentage at home games, at 100.4%, drawing an average crowd of 66,702 to U.S. Bank Stadium, according to the Sports Business Journal. The extra .4% comes from standing-room-only ticket sales. The Vikings took the No. 9 spot in the network’s ranking of teams with the highest total attendance percentage for fans in both their home and away games.

Former Viking Doug Chapman aims for return to the NFL — as a scout (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

The running back spent a week with the Vikings this month shadowing everyone he could from scouts to General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

"To be honest with you, it's often harder to evaluate talent at the college recruiting level than the NFL because sometimes you're looking at a kid who is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds who's going to graduate college 6-6, 300 pounds," Chapman added. Charles Huff, who left Nick Saban's Alabama staff to take Marshall's head coaching position in 2021, hired Chapman, a Hall of Famer at the university, as director of player development and senior offensive analyst. One of its alums, Ashton Washington, a Black woman, joined the Bears as a scouting assistant last year and was promoted to player personnel coordinator this year. Chapman, 44, was one of three participants in this year's Gilliam-Reichow fellowship, whose new name honors former Vikings Frank Gilliam, one of the NFL's first Black scouts, and Jerry Reichow, an original Vikings player who became a longtime scout and personnel executive. "I would ultimately love to be in a position to make player personnel decisions," said Chapman, who played for the Vikings from 2000 to 2003. "I would love one day for my name to be mentioned in general manager conversations.

Raiders preseason: Winners and losers against Minnesota Vikings (Silver and Black Pride)

A few standouts from the Silver and Black in both directions from their second preseason game.

Robertson didn’t play in the Hall of Fame game so this weekend was his 2022 preseason debut, and he allowed two catches on three targets for 32 yards in addition to getting flagged for defensive holding. As mentioned above, Walter had a strong performance and Brittain Brown stood out as well with 14 carries for 54 yards and scored one of the team’s two rushing touchdowns. Struggling to make plays in the open field was a big reason why he got benched last season, and seeing him whiff in his first game back isn’t exactly a comforting sight. Of his 30 total yards, 24 came after contact and he forced two missed tackles, bringing his preseason totals up to 54 and four which is impressive considering the Raiders have a crowded backfield and he’s only had 15 carries. The Ohio State product made the most of the opportunity as well. Butler was a big reason why Minnesota averaged 5.2 yards per carry as he struggled to hold his ground against the run, creating wide rushing lanes for the backs to exploit. After logging just one tackle and one pressure on 16 snaps against the Jaguars, he managed to come up with nothing — no tackles or pressures — in 19 reps against the Vikings. Beat writers, the coaching staff and other players have all been singing his praises, so it seemed like he had turned the corner. Those are the types of plays that will stand out in McDaniels’ system that likes to use a lot of short to intermediate passes. But it’s not just that the seven-year veteran isn’t showing up on the stat sheet, he’s also not pulling his weight on the underappreciated parts of the game too. To me, Turner was the Raiders' biggest winner from the afternoon. The Las Vegas Raiders are two games into the Josh McDaniels’ era and so far, there has been very little to complain about.

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