After the Minnesota Vikings beat the New York Giants in their first preseason game, we have some more tangible play on which to base early evaluations of players on the Vikings’ roster. So which players helped their cause on Saturday- and which ones hurt it? Here is a stock market report for the Vikings as they head into joint practices with the Baltimore Ravens later this week. I focused on the quarterbacks, rookies, and those further down the depth chart.
Stock Up
Kyler Murray. Nothing spectacular here, but he was able to run the offense without any big hiccups and at least managed a scoring drive on the one drive he played. A good first trial run.
Carson Wentz. Also showed he can run the offense well after he was given a half-game of snaps. Looking more like QB2 at this point.
Jacob Thomas. Not to be confused with third-round pick Jakobe Thomas. Jacob Thomas is a safety and a UDFA rookie out of James Madison. He had the most reps of any player on both defense and special teams and had the highest PFF grade of any special teamer (82.3) and was tied for the most special teams tackles (2) and was also the second-highest PFF graded defender (92.5) with one tackle for a stop, 2 assists, and an interception. He has impressed in training camp as well and all that is how an unheralded UDFA makes the roster. He was taking some first-team reps in Monday’s practice.
Max Bredeson. He only had seven snaps on offense, but he showed he can be an effective role player at fullback in the Vikings’ evolving offensive scheme. He also did well as a core special teamer. He looks like he’ll be an upgrade over C.J. Ham.
Myles Price. He had 4 catches on 4 targets for 51 yards and three of them were contested catches. He is showing he can play as a wide receiver in addition to a return man.
Walter Rouse. Rouse had a total of 33 reps split roughly equally between both guard spots and looked good. He’s a better guard than tackle and he helped his chances of gaining a roster spot with his performance. He was the second-highest graded offensive lineman in pass protection (0 pressures allowed) and also solid in run blocking and the second-highest overall PFF graded offensive lineman.
Demond Claiborne. He had a few run stuffs up the middle due to poor blocking up front, but he also showed his burst and speed around the corner outside while also having a good pass blocking rep. Zavier Scott having a tougher go of it pass blocking on Saturday doesn’t help his chances at a roster spot either. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Claiborne get a couple hundred reps this season and perhaps more if Aaron Jones misses some time.
Ryan Van Demark. He was the top PFF-graded offensive lineman for the Vikings on Saturday, with good grades in both pass (83.2) and run (78.2) blocking. That was somewhat reassuring as he’s had some struggles in training camp.
Henry Byrd. Byrd was solid through 36 reps at both left guard and right tackle on Sunday, no pressures allowed and solid in run blocking- I didn’t see any blown blocks. His versatility helps his chances too.
Brett Thorson. Thorson basically dueled to a draw with Johnny Hekker in both punting and holding, which I expect favors Thorson as the younger player under a cheap UDFA contract. So far in practice and in preseason, Thorson has been able to hold for Will Reichard without any problems and that may be his ticket to making the roster and beating out the 36-year-old Hekker.
Stock Down
Jamal Adams. After showing that he could potentially step up in Brian Flores’ scheme, and being a positive locker room presence, Adams was lost for the season with a right knee injury. That is especially tough for Adams that has spent several years recovering from a torn quadricep tendon injury and could potentially be a career-ending injury at his age after struggling to gain much of a foothold with any team the past few seasons.
J.J. McCarthy. A botched first play of preseason (a jet sweep that he mis-timed) and an uncatchable throw on a routine out route from a clean pocket on 3rd and 3 may be anecdotal, but they speak to an ongoing unreadiness that may move him to QB3 and perhaps even a trade. Perhaps even more relevant, if you compare this preseason game to his only preseason game in 2024, there appears to be no progress and possibly even regression. He also continues to stare down his first read and is often a tick late with the throw.
Caleb Tiernan. It was a rough first outing for Tiernan, who couldn’t hold a run block all afternoon. Pass protection was only a bit better. He gave up one QB hit on 20 pass blocking reps, which isn’t a good rate, and also looked shaky doing so. He also had back-to-back holding and offsides penalties. He doesn’t appear ready to be an effective swing tackle at this point if called upon.
Caleb Banks. Banks is learning that size alone doesn’t cut it in the league. Better technique beats size every time. Without consistently better pad level, his size is rendered useless as he loses the leverage battle. He needs to improve his technique across the board from hand usage to pass rush moves. He has the physical tools to be good, but his timeline is likely to be more like Dallas Turner’s. The more immediate goal is for him to improve pad level and technique so he isn’t a liability in rotation.
Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. TID was largely ineffectual on Saturday. He seemed intent on hand fighting and using his length to push into blockers, which can be effective in setting an edge, but the problem he had almost every time is he’d get tied up and not be able to disengage effectively. He was credited with two hurries, one tackle for a stop, and two missed tackles- both because he couldn’t disengage quickly enough. He’ll need to work on that if he’s to be effective off the edge.
Other Mentions
Jake Golday had a solid afternoon and graded well too overall. He had some of the blame for the long run-after-catch by Devin Singletary to start the second quarter as it was his coverage, but it was a cleverly designed screen pass as the center came over to block him and effectively took him out of the play, while Ivan Pace Jr. took a bad angle and overran Singletary, allowing the big gain. Having watched the play back several times, it’s not clear what Golday could have done differently under the circumstances to prevent the big gain- he took an outside line against the center forcing Singletary to cut back inside- but there was nobody inside to make the tackle.
Other players further down the depth chart that graded well, but on fewer reps and so may not move the needle much include LB Jacob Roberts, LB Bangally Kamara, CB Zemaiah Vaughn, DI Isaiahh Loudermilk, TE Marshall Lang, and OL Vershon Lee (reps split between guard and center). All of these players face uphill battles to make the roster, and maybe their performance on Saturday earned them more reps in some cases, but not sure they moved the needle much overall.
Joint practices with the Ravens begin on Wednesday at noon and go through Thursday. I’ll be there.
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