Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Vikings linebackers room ranked in NFL's top 10 by PFF
After missing Anthony Barr for all but the first one-and-a-half games last season, and in the wake of Eric Kendricks being sidelined for Minnesota's final five regular-season games, Minnesota is anticipating the return of both linebackers for 2021.
The Vikings did lose Eric Wilson to free agency when he signed with the Eagles, but their linebackers group remains a strong one.
Analytics site Pro Football Focus recently ranked all 32 teams’ linebackers and slated the Vikings as the league's ninth best. PFF's Sam Monson wrote:
Eric Kendricks has the best PFF coverage grade of any linebacker in the NFL since the start of the 2019 season (91.7), as well as the most forced incompletions (17) and the highest forced incompletion rate (14.9%). He is one of the best coverage linebackers in the game, and if the Vikings can coax the best play out of any of Anthony Barr, Nick Vigil or rookie Chazz Surratt alongside him, they will really be cooking.
Topping the list at Nos. 1 and 2 were the 49ers and Seahawks, respectively, both of whom the Vikings will face this season.
The 49ers are one of the few teams to have multiple players featured in PFF's ranking of the top 32 linebackers entering 2021, and that makes them a very difficult group to top as a unit. Fred Warner wasn't the top-ranked linebacker, but he has out-graded Bobby Wagner (who was) in coverage over the past two seasons and was the No. 1-graded linebacker (88.6 overall) in the league last season. Dre Greenlaw is a solid player but isn't coming off his best year alongside Warner.
Minnesota will host Seattle during Week 3 for its home opener at U.S. Bank Stadium.
If the Seahawks still had K.J. Wright, they would comfortably field the NFL's best linebackers unit, but with Wright still a free agent, this unit is carried by Bobby Wagner. With the team deteriorating around him, Wagner has been put in ever-tougher positions, but he still has a top-five overall PFF grade over the past two seasons. He recorded 20 total pressures, 53 defensive stops and seven pass breakups in 2020. Jordyn Brooks is a work in progress, but we saw flashes of what he's capable of as a rookie last year.
The other teams ranked above the Vikings were the Buccaneers, Broncos, Colts, Cowboys, Patriots and Texans.