Photos by Michael Owens/AP Images (Jordan Addison); AP Images (Brian Flores); Joe Robbins/AP Images (Brian Asamoah)
header
Left to right: Brian Asamoah, Brian Flores, and Jordan Addison
The Defense
The Vikings’ offseason was full of shake-ups: Long-term favorites were released; rookies were drafted; relative newbies hit the starting lineup. (Heck, even the throwback jerseys returned!) But one of the largest changes will show up on the sidelines. Earlier this year, the Vikings replaced defensive coordinator Ed Donatell with Brian Flores. The onetime Miami Dolphins head coach left his job as senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers to move to Minnesota—a move, he says, he was happy to make. “You almost get a gut feeling…this was the place for me and my family,” Flores said in a press conference.
Cost Cutting
Shiny-new big-name defensive coordinator aside, the Vikings still had a problem: They needed to cut $23 million in salaries to get rid of the team’s cap deficit, and that meant releasing fan-fave veteran players like linebacker Eric Kendricks, wide receiver Adam Thielen, and running back Dalvin Cook. Brian Asamoah, whom the Vikings drafted last year, will replace Kendricks at linebacker, and 2019 third-round pick Alexander Mattison will step in for Cook.
Rookie Season
But perhaps one of the Vikings’ largest starting lineup moves involved snagging electric rookie wide receiver Jordan Addison with their first-round pick and signing him to a four-year, $13.7 million deal. Addison, who played at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Southern California, won the Biletnikoff Award (for college football’s top receiver) in 2021 and is proud to join the Vikes this year. “It’s a prestigious place for receivers,” he said during his first media appearance as a Viking. Now, will it stay that way as the team fights to maintain—or improve—last year’s NFC North–topping 13–4 record?
