Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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It's no secret the Vikings could look to revamp their defensive line this offseason.
And Scott Spratt of analytics website Football Outsiders has a way for Minnesota to do so.
Football Outsiders recently offered a daring move for each NFL team to make this offseason, with Spratt suggesting the Vikings add defensive tackle Leonard Williams.
He wrote that Williams could provide a formidable duo next to Michael Pierce, who did not play in 2020 after oping out due to COVID-19.
With the expectation that Pierce will play in 2021, and now that the team has escaped its cap nightmare, the Vikings could easily call it a day. Instead, we would love for them to double down with another signing of an expensive free-agent defensive tackle, Leonard Williams.
Even with their other cuts, the Vikings were remarkably complete in 2020 with the No. 11 passing offense, No. 6 rushing offense, and No. 14 pass defense by DVOA. But their run defense finished 30thin DVOA and dead last allowing 5.16 adjusted line yards per carry, and did so despite Eric Kendricks leading all linebackers (min. 50 tackles) with a 6.3 percent broken tackle rate based on Sports Info Solutions charting. That weakness may be more than Pierce can overcome on his own, but its correction could vault this version of the Vikings into Super Bowl contention. And thanks to their discipline last year, the team could free the space to make it happen by extending [quarterback Kirk] Cousins and avoid the alternative of a complete rebuild.