Minnesota Vikings Depth Chart Contains Key Surprises

the first Minnesota Vikings depth chart is out and even though it's unofficial I know you all yearn for it you filthy filthy mongrels and I'm going to indulge you welcome to the lock on Vikings podcast you are locked on Vikings your daily Minnesota Vikings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello hello everybody Welcome to the locked on Vikings podcast where we're always trying to learn something new it's part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thank you so much for making locked on Vikings your first listen of the day each and every day I appreciate you all so very much my hashtag every dayers those of you who are with me all summer long all throughout the Everyman series which is we've only got a couple players left for uh as well as now through camp in the season if you're new here hello and welcome welcome to the 2024 season you can find the show wherever you find your favorite podcast just search out lockon Vikings anywhere you listen to shows including YouTube or even Amazon and Roku if you download the locked on Minnesota sports app today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon NFL it's linkedin.com lockon NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply today on the show we're going over the first depth chart of the 2024 season the Vikings are back at Camp had a little weather delay missed a night practice so if you did have plans to take the family out for the night practice on Monday and it got rained out I I'm sorry to you not much you can do about it I guess uh but they were back on Tuesday full pads louen is working back in uh sensibly Andrew van GLE should be working back in but I haven't heard anything about that one way or another uh so hopefully the Vikings are getting a little bit healthier with Jerry tiller also hopefully working his way back in as well had to get stitches on getting CLE but that's a short-term thing uh and the Vikings released their first unofficial depth chart so here is what I think we can do I think we can build a 53 roster based off of this depth chart now here's now it's I know it's an unofficial depth chart all right but I think I mean look The Unofficial just leaving them open to to make to change their mind on things based on preseason and stuff like that as well I I and and I think it it is at least communicating to us poll position in Camp battles that are not over but it's just telling us where things are right now and everything is subject to change and nothing is unofficial right um maybe we can to glean some some nuggets out of out of it uh even though we understand that it's all a big grain of salt for example if you look at the quarterbacks the starter is Sam darnold we all expected that if you are uh just showing up by the way to the Vikings and you're wondering what what that's about Sam darnold he's the bridge quarterback he's slated to start week one JJ McCarthy very much in the lab working on mechanics working on getting uh his uh on on like reading the Playbook Concepts out on time he he can very clearly read them out but sometimes it's slow in a way that the drills don't really know how to punish so you'll still throw a touchdown but it's like that was so late that would never happen uh but has also shown enough really exciting flashes where we can be super super stoked on him while still understanding that we're not getting this dude tomorrow uh but that so that's in the slow cooker that's going to happen but what's interesting is that they they listed JJ M McCarthy or Nick Mullins as backups rather than the way that they'll do this like with the running backs where it is listed there's no or everybody's in a clear pecking order Aaron Jones Tai Chandler K Wong wo miles gasin Dwayne McBride right like clear pecking order and by the way I think you keep three of those guys you cut gasin and McBride and then you're done so what does it tell us that you know McCarthy and Mullins maybe are are in this like or world and I think what that implies at least where they're at right now they had to play a game tomorrow it be Sam darnold starting and if Sam darnold got hurt it implies that they're willing to still put Nick Mullins in over JJ McCarthy as to not re-engage him in Old Habits that he's is still kind of reverting back to when things get going a little bit too fast you don't want to put him in a whole game uh full game scenario where the speed of the game is never going to let him take a break and rest and and sort of reconfigure all the habits he's trying to build right it would break those habits and we've seen that happen a million times Justin Fields Bryce young I could the list goes on um you know you would put Nick Mullins in there's actually a mailbag question yesterday of somebody that was like yeah I I wanted what like that that what I want am I crazy and and the answer was definitely not crazy that I think is the plan however JJ McCarthy is going to be taking second team reps um as something to help his his development and stuff so like does that mean he would go in second in a real live situation not not sure still not sure that's best for him uh or it just implies that that for somebody who started out as qb3 he is climbed that far up the dep chart now he's starting to crack at you know qb2 and now it's it's a qb2 is a 50 50 thing and qb1 is next um whatever it is it's it still gives us the sense that there's a timeline that we are not at the end of but again enough really cool stuff in Camp that when this whole puzzle is put together we get to be very excited about what it says so either way that also implies that jiren Hall is probably the QB getting cut right now preseason will have a lot to say about that but if they made the decision now it would be darnold McCarthy Mullins it would be Aaron Jones Tai Chandler Kenny Wong CJ ham and the running back positions that gives us our four running backs wide receivers of course your starters are Jefferson and Addison backups Jaylen Naylor and Brandon Powell I think the distinction is really funny when they use an or and they use an and right uh I guess with wide receiver it's just that there's there's uh you know it's a Duo this is listed in 21 Personnel so there'd be two receivers on the field so your first team would be Jefferson Addison your second team Powell and Naylor Naylor's exploding at Camp Powell appears to be doing totally fine interesting to me Tristian Jackson is next and he's alone in these depth charts they will often do it by pairs L Jefferson and Addison Powell and Naylor you know Tristian Jackson and whoever the next guy is but Tristian Jackson is a lone comfortably wide receiver five doesn't that kind of imply a five wide receiver plan I don't know maybe I'm reading way too I'm probably reading way too much into that and guys like Jon Jones and Trent sherfield who are are next up that's lower than I thought Trent sherfield would be higher than I thought Jon Jones would be maybe he's a guy that he's some the beat writers have called out in the last couple days as well as somebody who's who's starting to flash a little bit more consistently maybe he's trying he's actually working his way onto this roster we when we did his Everyman series we kind of said hey this guy's a long shot to make the roster but the door is absolutely open go ball out at camp and it's not like there is this really super established group of veterans that you're never going to be able to knock off like there is that say you know off-ball linebacker it's a little harder for an undrafted free agent to make it because the group right now is veteran and it's it's all incumbents and it's you know it's it's not quite that way at wide receiver and here we are Jon Jones working his way up being listed as wide receiver six or seven will they keep a wide receiver six is the big question so for now let's say that it's just five and let's say that that Trent sherfield and Jan Jones are not the ones making it that brings us to the tight ends you've still got T.J hackinson listed as a starter although he's on pups so you have Josh Oliver Johnny mutt Nick Muse that's your next three these are again it's 21 personnel so there's only one tight end here so they're not listed in pairs or anything like that so there's a clear pecking order and after those three on the pecking order it's Robert tunan then nille Harry then Trey KNX and Samus Rees so I think you keep three of these guys while you wait for uh TJ hackinson to come back and then maybe T.J hackinson just becomes the fourth tight end and you cut somebody else or maybe you still go with three I think it just depends on a lot of their like run strategy and what that actually ends up being but uh Josh Oliver being listed Johnny Mt is I think a little instructive like how you define who the starter and the backup will be with no hackinson in in the game is a little bit sketchy because like Josh Oliver is a more established player that the Vikings have more committed to they're paying him more than their paying month um and they've kind of luded him as as a more key Central piece of the offense than Johnny Mt but Johnny Mt might end up taking a the the all the tight end reps from 11 Personnel or maybe he won't and maybe that's what this depth CH is telling us I'm not quite sure either way I think both guys are pretty easy easy to make the team and then it's you know you'll probably keep a third at least for now and that guy right now figures to be Nick Muse uh offensive line pretty chalk here you got Christian Daron Brian O'Neal your your backup tackles Walter Rouse and David quesenberry you also have Jeremy flax and D Doug Nester in your third team those guys long shots to make the roster but pretty good odds for the practice squad just to kind of have that extra bit of depth in the build building and then on the interior brandle Bradberry Ingram really no competition to speak of a lot of people speculated that there would be one there isn't one unless you really really really want to make it up just because O'Connell said that you know Ryner was there to push some guys uh but that was like this just one quote and they haven't really followed through on that at all so I don't really think that you can give that I think Ryner is a backup and that's just the way it is uh the the other two backups on the interior Michael Jurgens listed as a left guard and M and Dan feny lifted as a center so very interesting because those two guys both play guard and center and in my opinion they're in conflict with each other for a roster spot for the swing backup to play both roles so which one is listed at at what is probably what they're going to play more of in the preseason but I would also anticipate seeing those two guys both play both positions as they kind of compete for like one call it a utility role on the o line and then behind them Tyrese Robinson Henry bird Spencer Rolland who's moving from tackle guard uh all pretty big long shots but there's your threes I guess uh Tyrese Robinson did start with the twos by the way and uh Jurgens over took him so there's also something for that uh we'll go to the defensive side of things and then we'll have an entry into the Everyman series next up on lockdown Vikings today's episode of lockon Vikings is brought to you by game time the best place to find last minute tickets to anything so if you're thinking about maybe getting out to a Twins game while the weather is nice the one day it is sunny in Minnesota this year this summer I guess uh and you're waiting for the weather and the clouds breaking you let's do it let's go to a baseball game check out game time you'll be able to find tickets even up to the very start of the event even an hour into the start of the game you can still find them there uh and 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football I'm going to guess your draft is around the corner if you haven't already had it uh and you're looking for that edge so go let Vinnie a give it to you and and make sure you check that one out every day as well to keep that edge going throughout the season your co-workers will never see it coming uh next up let's go to the defensive side of the depth chart here The Unofficial depth chart of the Minnesota Vikings we'll start with the edge rushers they call them outside linebackers I refuse to do that uh your starters are still grenard and Andrew van GLE with your backups being listed as Pat Jones and Dallas Turner I think that's the group um with maybe you keep a fifth one here if somebody really blows up so Gabe Murphy has been a guy that people have really like noticed more they this is also you know beat riters maybe like trying to will it to another Ivan Pac thing but it does sound like he's genuinely done well Jihad Ward is listed next to him so there's your kind of third team and then at the bottom of the roster you have Owen Porter Andre Carter who does not appear to have taken this step that we thought he would after a year of like NFL conditioning uh and Bo RoR at uh Carter and RoR are like both at the bottom there they both look like they're about to get cut on the interior of the defensive line you have Jerry Tillery Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard those are your three starters that's pretty chocked that's kind of what we expected going in behind them you have James Lynch jaquell en Roy and Jonah Williams I think that's a keep two group and then you kind you have you know four-ish Edge rushers five five in the middle uh maybe you do five and five if you want to keep 10 you cut an extra Deb back or something like that but I think there it is then you also have Levi Drake Rodriguez uh listed amongst the threes alongside Taki taiani and Jaylen Redmond with Tyler monoa kind of taking up the rear with the fours he'll be playing in the fourth quarter of that third preseason game maybe one of those kind of guys trying to find a practice squad slot somewhere but uh Levi Drake Rodriguez is another interesting one a lot of these guys have been going in with the ones and on defense who is playing with the ones twos and threes is a lot less clear because Brian Flores really rotates guys around a lot you really not in the same way you have you've got your offensive first team and your offensive second team and it's a very clearcut because I think on offense that chemistry is a little more important than it is on defense where sometimes it's just go ball um like on offensive line right you're not going to do a lot of rotation on offensive line unless you have like a true blue Camp battle but which the Vikings don't have any of those um so you've seen V Drake Rodriguez with the ones you've seen uh you know jell en Roy go with the ones even though he's on the twos andu like you've seen these guys kind of rotate around and compete with each other but I do think that you'll have like it's a it's a keep nine or 10 kind of group um in your off ball linebackers your inside linebackers you've got Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace up top that's kind of to be expected then kamu gu Hill and Brian asamo MOA second and then the only other guys are Dallas Gant and jabil Cox there's your threes your those guys I think are going to have a tough time cracking that roster now like jabril Cox has made teams before like he is a perfectly roster player and I think if Brian OA does get cut it sounds like he's been having a pretty good camp so he's making a case for himself but obviously it's got to show up in the preseason but like if he does end up totally cut uh getting hurt in the pre he was hurt all last year in the preseason if I recall like that think I really hurt him um but if he like struggles in the preseason and jabril Cox plays well I think that's like absolutely an Avenue for somebody to like lose a job and there's going to be real Stakes on that in those games when when they go to Vegas for this first one then we have the cornerbacks oh baby uh it's always an interesting group so your starters are listed as Shaq Griffin and Byron Murphy by the way this is listed in base Personnel so you only have two starters listed as uh cornerbacks your backups your next two guys are a Caleb Evans and Fabian Maro this jives with what we have seen with sha sha Griffin out when they are in nickel it has been uh Byron Murphy a Caleb Evans and Fabian with Bayern Murphy on the inside so there you go Bayern Murphy on the field all the time sha Griffin probably on the field all the time and then Caleb Evans and Fabian Maro are your guys rotating in um and then after that you have Andrew Booth Jr AJ Green and jacobe Francis all listed jacobe Francis is a little higher than I thought he would be uh he is very much like a perennial practice squad doter but uh also same with AJ Green uh and Andrew Booth to be honest with you all listed above this like kind of above guys with way more hype like Duke shell and Dwight mcclover and of course Naji Thompson is um he's going to be on a reserve pup but he's also listed at the bottom of this uh and you know as a special teamer it's a different thing but uh Booth being listed a little bit higher they're really given him every chance in the world to prove himself um now Tyler who's been on here uh as a kind of Camp correspondent has has told me that the the demise of Andrew Booth is maybe a little exaggerated he's on the the wrong end of a few highlights but we don't want to get highl highlight syndrome you know like he's had other good reps as well that just don't get posted by the social media team um so maybe he is just like beating that but AJ Green being higher than I thought jacobe Francis being higher than I thought that kind of cb5 cb6 position to me wide open pick your favorite too and it might not be you know Dwight mcln and Duke shell who I think are the fan favorites for that safeties of course you have Harrison Smith and cam bam then your backups are Josh matelis and Theo Jackson and then again interestingly Jay Ward and lsen listed above Bobby McCain Big Time Flores guy but also new to the team uh and lsen who worked back in I didn't hear anything about him one way or another for his first day back sounds like they're still kind of easing him in so I don't know if he got that much work but they're going to try to have him back playing on on Saturday uh against the Raiders so that's going to be one that I watch very closely is how louisine does against the Raiders there uh in Las Vegas and of course your kickers are are pretty chalk your Specialists will rer Ryan wri above Seth Vernon de Pao of course and then your kickoff returner is going to be Wong wo with Tai Chandler and Brandon Powell also doing that your punt returner is Brandon pow same thing as last year so if we want to like pair that down into a 53 man roster um we actually do have room to keep a sixth wide receiver um I obviously don't have time to go over the whole thing with you right now but obviously there's some like really interesting stuff going on here I actually did a 53 man roster on patreon patreon /uk Bron NFL that pretty much reflects this depth chart uh with a couple of things that maybe I'm already looking like I'm going to get wrong or whatever but you can go check that out if you're a patron for everybody else let's move on to the Everyman series centering on Levi Drake Rodriguez today's episode of Locked on Vikings is brought to you by LinkedIn if you are in charge of hiring you have to be on LinkedIn of course you do if whether it's a small business that you run or you just have a role that means you hiring like an HR Ro or something like that you got to be on LinkedIn because LinkedIn it's not just a job board it's basically a social media that everyone uses there are like 70% of LinkedIn users aren't on any other job websites so if you're not on LinkedIn you're missing out on a huge portion of the tower the the talent pool two and a half small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring and 86% of those small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours so hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn use all of their tools uh like generative tools to help you write a better job uh like a better blurb for your job description um as well as tools that can help you pair down in possibly large pools of candidates like the one that is on LinkedIn jobs that can help you kind of narrow that down and not be overwhelmed by numbers as well so post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon NFL that's linkedin.com lockon NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply every year around 6 seven of the draft most of us that are still just kind of sitting there talking about Dallas Turner and JJ McCarthy we're kind of burned out on it we're going who are even are These Guys these small town dudes but those actual players and their friends and their families will be on in these Draft parties completely holding their breath and I want to paint the picture for you um most of the information from this for this segment came from the athletic series of prospect X articles where they go over like a small school or an an overlooked Prospect a lot of their pre-draft process and their their story and stuff a lot of the stuff that's perfect for the Everyman series but without naming them so you don't get bogged down in the the you know name recognition and and the kind of stigma that will come with whatever school they play for or whatever and this time it was Levi Drake Rodriguez so we got a great look into this moment in his life this incredibly um you know this this like pivotal Crossroads of Will I or will I not get drafted where am I going to live next year it's going to say on the TV and all my friends and family are here packed like sardines into a 980t square house in Georgetown or square foot house in Georgetown Texas this is not the first time that this house has been packed to the gills with people it is despite its small house it is something of A Gathering Spot for all the neighborhood kids all the way growing up um it's like a nostalgic thing they all have a sleepover the night before and they're all like laughing laughing and giggling with each other even though they're all full- grown adults now it's like they're all 12 again and then they all hold their breath for about an hour while the sixth and seventh round go by in Levi Drake Rodriguez's bedroom uh and it followed him to all like his dorm rooms and stuff there's a whiteboard as there is in so many of these stories everybody's got a whiteboard that they wrote on when they were eight years old and this is an ADHD 8-year-old with a huge appetite and a desire to tackle in rough house with everybody so yeah we're getting that kid in football he writes I will be a professional football player exclamation point in Jesus's name Exclamation point Exclamation point that's what he wrote as an eight-year-old and he carried that whiteboard around never erased it carried it around with him through all of the stops in this journey but that little 980 square foot house was much too small for a child like this so this was the kind of kid that would like get kicked out for the afternoon you go burn off energy you can come back when you're less hyper cuz you're going to break everything in this house they would call them their parents called them Sports poor where you know all of our money is going into sports stuff and and supporting the kids uh the the kids and their youth sports and all their dreams and stuff and that's going to be what we have we got the money to do that but we don't have the money to do anything else Levi Drake shared a single room with his sister uh but again everybody hung out there anyways even though it was small and cramped it was small but has got a lot of love that's the way they would say it but in high school he was kind of like a skinny offensive tackle he hadn't moved to D line yet uh and he didn't get any major offers so he ended up at a nearby southern southwestern Assemblies of God University now known as Nelson University uh a like really strict Bible School nearby in Texas in uh waxahachi Texas and one of the things that got him there as so he he's a lineman right big dude like big Behemoth of a man right he's is skinny for an 18-year-old but on he's on a recruiting visit he's still like a you know big football player uh dunking a basketball and like having the jumped the the ups to do that and they're like we we need this kid we can make some I can make a deep tackle out of this kid if he can dunk a basketball and at that size he's got the power he's got the explosion in his thighs I can do it it's like such a defensive line coach mentality and it was there that he really came into his own both as a man and as a football player um they originally put him at Edge and there they called him a wildwire Ed Edge rusher that really he needed to be H he was raw as hell uh but he had the motor and he had the work ethic and soon enough he would be the stud of the team but he also really grew as a teammate and as a leader Levi Drake Rodriguez is a total sweetheart off the field big cuddly bear hug kind of guy mean as heck on the field but when he's off the field you know he's this like gentle giant sweetheart that you get that the description of so many of these big guys cuz everybody sees a big guy and expects them to be mean I think it's a little bit of like a pandering stereo type but it's the way that people talk about him um very kind-hearted man but he also has that leadership Gene there's this anecdote of of him speaking at a at Chapel at this Bible school and talking about his experience and speaking from the heart and being really natural and being really honest and vulnerable and he's talking to like hundreds of kids including all of his teammates 63 of his teammates after that uh Speech will decide to get baptized I have to imagine some of the SE kids haven't thought about spirituality at all but he had just that compelling effect the article kind of breezes by that that is insane that is so like to change the spiritual sensibilities of that many people in Texas that's wild to me uh so much this happened so the coach canceled practice the next day so they could all do it they're like yeah know we we won't you everybody go to the pool we're doing a baptism for everybody by this point he's realizing that he's good enough to play in the NFL but nobody's going to come to Southwestern Assemblies of God he's got to get into at least the2 to get a little bit of recognition and that's where he starts sending out his tape to people including Texas A&M Commerce which is where he will ultimately end up he sends his tape out there they love it they see how explosive he is they say oh my God we can do something with this but the the the thought of leaving is actually really hard on Levi Drake Rodriguez he's really torn between this like Chase my NFL dream but also these teammates that I've grown so close with with and and the school I really like and it matches my faith and all that and so he fasts for a week to make this decision like this is how Pious this guy is like he's he's fasting and praying on decisions in in the same way you would you would think of like a a Tibetan monk doing it but uh there is a lot of overlap in a lot of the religions of the world in that a lot of times communing on it meditating on it praying on it whatever you want to call it is is really a way to handle a big decision um and so will grab his Bible he will Fast for a week and then he just sort of sits down and waits to hear the word from God and the word from God tells him you got to do it you got to go so off to Texas A&M Commerce he goes now they were a D2 school when he enrolled by the time he would graduate they'd be D1 so he actually gets some D1 experience and then the article goes over the kind of the scouts perspective where every Scout thinks that they found this diamond in the rough and then they and then like eight teams show up to his pro day like oh you found him too like they're all so excited about his tape from A&M Commerce Lions most of the prospect ex thing again it covers his pre-draft process and going through the combine and all that stuff not so so much the the life story but he will have to gain a lot of weight because he's under 300 lbs he's trying to play defensive tackle so he's throughout the whole like uh writing process of this he's constantly eating and the meals that these articles describe are absolutely insane he's like like an entire breakfast that I could probably finish half of and then he's like okay bring me round two a big blue cheese burger uh he's putting down like when you're putting down like 6,000 calories a day or whatever it is um your body it adapts to your diet if you if you eat 6,000 calories a day your body will start to want 6,000 calories a day um so on day three of the draft when Levi wasn't sure he was going to get drafted he's nervous pits in his stomach and he's so nervous all he can eat is a few chicken wings that's going you're going to feel that and he felt really weird that whole day but he was too anxious to eat so cut back to this family and all of his friends this group of had to be like 40 people all crammed into this little house all huddled around the TV holding their breath and you know that rounds four and five we're all talking we know he's not probably not going to go that high but we're partying we're eating we're having fun we're joking we're laughing round six starts and then the conversations start to hush a little bit by round seven you can hear a pin drop mom's going into the other room and praying on it like she can't handle the anxiety anymore then his phone rings and it's I I think it was a 612 number it's quacy and he says you want to be a viking and Levi Drake Rodriguez jumps out of his chair he says let's go you can hear him on the on the draft call he says let's go and the whole place erupts people are jumping up and down people are hugging people are screaming they said it like damn near tears this little house to the ground this is so much commotion and so there he goes and I'm always compelled by these stories especially people who don't come from the kinds of of neighborhoods the kinds of privilege where you can get to all the youth camps and get your name out there for big colleges and stuff when you do just kind of have to do it on elbow grease and sending and emailing your your your A&M Commerce tape to some NFL people and especially if Levi Drake Rodriguez makes the team you want a story to root for in the preseason by the way watch Levi Drake Rodriguez because if he makes the team the difference between the money he will make on the practice squad and the team is like a whole zero like it is hundreds of thousands of dollars a year now it is enough money to if he wants get get his family out of that little house upgrade everybody's lifestyle everybody's life will change that he wants to change if he makes the team and he makes even just one year of NFL rookie contract money that is a story worth rooting for but everybody's got a story like that and everybody has their why so we compete and we hash it out I'll talk to you'all tomorrow and as always skull