Vikings Minicamp Roundup

Just a few thoughts on this week's minicamp!

Paul Allen of KFAN says the Vikings will go 11-5 this regular season, and Paul Charchian says we'll be undefeated at home.  The latter, I love, the former...I'm praying we get that many wins!  I'm torn between expecting 10 and hoping for 12.

People need to stop flapping like injured chickens over Sharrif Floyd "versus" Kevin Williams and the depth chart.  We're putting Floyd in at nickel.  Williams, not so much for nickel.   We play nickel what, half the time?  Both of them are going to get to play, and considering Williams only played 70% of snaps last season, this is such a nonissue.  Sharrif Floyd is going to be paired up a lot with Letroy Guion (who has been getting first team reps) at nickel (Fred Evans...I have heard significantly less about, and might be worried about), even though he is not likely to be starting and will probably just get off-the-bench reps his rookie year.

According to the guys with the eyes, the defense won minicamp hands down.  On the last day, the camp ended with three straight pass breakups by defense in fourth and goal drill.  Chris Cook intercepted James Vandenburg yesterday and has "had a strong camp."  Xavier Rhodes was mentioned multiple times and had his hands on a lot of balls...shush, ignore the double entendre! 
Bobby Felder picked up a particularly impressive diving interception in a 7-on-7 drill on Greg Jennings when the latter let the ball loose on the sideline.
Mistral Raymond is still injured, and was doing rehab during minicamp, which is not a great sign considering how hard he's struggled with injury throughout his career.
Robinson intercepted Ponder at least once, but from what was said, it was more a bad decision by Ponder than brilliant move by Robinson, which frankly, makes me pretty itchy.
Someone named Larry Dean is staying at linebacker while Greenway heals up, and the d-roster is much in place from last year.  I didn't really expect drastic moves in the early part of the offseason - it's the preseason games where I'm going to look out for those.
I did hear the D was making a few stupid penalties which burns me up.  If we make stupid penalties this year, we will lose.  There will be no Superbowl, and no glittery trophy.  NO STUPID MISTAKES!  NO BONEHEADED PENALTIES!  YOU CANNOT WIN PLAYING SLOPPY!

On to offense, Brandon Fusco (OG) continues to take reps at center while John Sullivan (C) is recovering from his microfacture surgery, which I approve of.  Considering the hole teams can get into with short rosters and lack of depth on line, the more experience the better.
Matt Kalil spent his offseason getting fit, and is now apparently one of the more jacked guys on the team.  Pretty impressive considering his age and the fact we have beasts like Peterson to set an almost impossibly high standard for fitness.
Rookie RB Bradley Randle caught some attention with his jukes and outside burst.  Of course, they're not in pads yet, so I'm reserving judgement.
Cassel seemed to do quite well, although apparently there was one stretch of three straight incompletions (one dropped) and then a sack.  Guess he's not HOF material just yet...
The team ran some 2-minute drills, so the staff at least got a good look at the offense coming together.  (Yes, I'm bitter I can't watch.)
The final passing stats on day 1 were as follows: Ponder 14-of-20 with INT, Cassel 10-of-21, MBT 8-9, Vandenberg 1-2.
Rhett Ellison is mysteriously absent but perhaps he has some "family issues" he has to take care of.  As long as his rental car isn't parked in some woods next to a body with a bullet in its brain.
Adrian Peterson was present, doing some light jogging and rehab, but no practice, unfortunately.
Joe Webb got quite a lot of attention, although he did miss some route adjustments and drop some balls.  In my opinion, you only get good at that through lots and lots of practice, so I'll let him get some time at WR before I start fussing.
First team:  Ponder "came out firing" and completed multiple passes to multiple players, even making six in a row at one point before throwing away one and then narrowly missing Carlson (TE).  He connected with  Simpson (WR) twice on deep balls, one time hitting him in stride 40 yards down the field. Maybe Simpson and Jennings are going to duke it out for Ponder's #1?
Second team: Cassel hit a notable 33 yard strike to Carlson that was apparently more due to Carlson being clutch than Cassel being sharp.  I need to see with my own eyes, because man, it's rough relying on other people for observations like that.
Third team: McLeod Bethel-Thompson drove for a 41 yard Walsh field goal in their drill, with the key completion to Adam Thielen. 
My question: did I just miss all the tweets about Burton, or did something happen?

WR depth chart:

1. Jennings-Simpson-Wright. 2. Patterson-Burton-Brown. 3. Webb-Summers-Thielen

For special teams, Patterson, Sherels, Robinson, Jefferson, and Webb have all been returning kicks. Simpson, Wright, Patterson have been taking punts, while the former puntman Sherels was working as a gunner.
Walsh looking pretty consistent - in a "game situation" he made a 46 yard field goal that would've been good from a good 10-20 yards more. 
Jeff Locke looked consistent and "impressive" in his punting practice.  Produced nine punts that all had a hangtime around 4.5 seconds, and all but one landed inside the 10 yard line.



Minicamp nonparticipants: Sullivan (C), Allen (DE), Greenway (LB), Childs (WR), Mauti (LB), Nathan Williams (LB), Lacey, Keglar (LB), McCoy (CB).
*It should be noted that Michael Mauti did some individual drills, and says he's still on track, but he's leaving the timelines to the coaching staff.
**Keglar also participated in the practice but sat out the early drills.  No hint as to why.
 

Interesting News: the Vikings owners, including Zygi, Mark and Lenny Wilf, were at minicamp, watching the drills and talking to the guys.  Zygi also spent a lot of time with Leslie Frazier, which I'm hoping is a good, encouraging sign of confidence.

Really Good News: We're $7.132 million under the salary cap, and will still be $4 million under after we sign our last three draft picks.  MLB time, I think. 

SKOL!