Written By Sam Ekstrom
Surrounded by Vikings alumni on a perfect Thursday afternoon, Mike Zimmer bid farewell to his team following their final practice of mandatory mini-camp, giving way to a 38-day break before the squad reconvenes at Blakeslee Stadium in Mankato. The 90-man roster (well, 89-man roster since Taylor Mays’ release) is deep, much deeper than Zimmer’s first Vikings team. With depth comes the challenge of roster decisions for Zimmer and Rick Spielman, who’ve spent the last several weeks emphasizing how offseason workouts are just skin and bones when compared to the meaty training camp sessions in late July and early August. “We’ve got five preseason games, no one’s in pads — it really doesn’t mean anything to me right now,” said Zimmer when asked about a certain player getting first-team reps. OK, not to be secretive – the player was Robert Blanton, last year’s starting safety opposite of Harrison Smith for 13 games, who seems to be involved a three- or four-man race for the spot this year.
“Sticking with Blanton doesn’t mean anything right now,” Zimmer said bluntly on Tuesday. A teammate of Smith’s at Notre Dame, Blanton led the Vikings in tackles last year and was Pro Football Focus’s fourth most efficient tackler within the safety position, though he left something to be desired in pass coverage. Use as many stats as you’d like, however, to defend or destroy Blanton; the safety position has been deemed an “open competition” by Zimmer, who isn’t resting on Blanton’s laurels as incumbent starter, nor has he taken him off the short list. Keep in mind, though, the head coach showed very little regard in 2014 for returning starting safety Jamarca Sanford if you’re looking for precedent. Sanford spent a good portion of three years in a starting role, only to be cut in Zimmer’s inaugural campaign. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, I guess.
Blanton is certainly not secure, but he’s also not out of the running. The fourth-year safety is still a prime 25 years of age and aiming to get paid when his contract runs out following this season. Plus, he has one full season of starting pedigree – something his competitors lack. The trio that could possibly unseat Blanton consists of Antone Exum, Jr., Anthony Harris and Andrew Sendejo. For the record, that’s one second-year rookie with zero career starts, one undrafted rookie with zero NFL experience and one sixth-year veteran with 13 career starts.
The safe bet of the three would be Sendejo, who spotted for an injured Blanton last year and then stayed in the lineup even after Blanton was healthy. The Rice graduate Sendejo has been a special teams stalwart since his first year on the team. Like Blanton, he’s also in a contract year. “He plays real hard. He’s a smart guy,” Zimmer commented on Sendejo last season after one of his starts.
Some guys are great to have on a team in a backup role, which the Vikings can attest to with the likes of Sendejo, linebackers Audie Cole and Gerald Hodges, offensive lineman Joe Berger, etc. In all their cases, they bring enough talent to fill gaps adequately for single games at a time and not let everything crumble. The question remains whether or not they’re good enough to play 16 in a row and not get exposed. While the experience under Sendejo’s belt is his biggest asset, it’s also his biggest detriment. Shouldn’t he have more experience at this point in his career? If he hasn’t been able to earn a starter’s role through five NFL seasons, what would it say about his level of competition if he was suddenly able to win the job now? Rolling the dice with Sendejo isn’t exactly an inspiring prospect.
Exum is a higher risk, higher reward talent from Virginia Tech who garnered a roster spot out of training camp last season over veterans Chris Crocker and Kurt Coleman. That’s a pretty significant endorsement from Zimmer, who had to cut ties with Crocker, a Terence Newman-like character from Zimmer teams of the past. Exum, coming off a torn ACL the year prior, played almost entirely on special teams, got fined once for a blindside block and was benched for one game due to his undisciplined play. “Kinda got to keep your thumb on him a little bit,” Zimmer said last October.
But the door’s been left open for Exum to earn the safety job. By all accounts, Exum is insanely athletic but will need to get a better handle on the defensive schematics to show he’s worthy of playing the strong side safety position. “The biggest thing is being more comfortable with the calls and communication, being more consistent with what we’re asking him to do from call to call,” said defensive coordinator George Edwards, “and he’s done a good job this offseason. You can tell he’s playing a lot more confident, he’s not having to think quite as much, so you can see his athleticism a lot more because now he doesn’t have to think quite as much of what my assignment is.”
NFL.com’s draft analysis echoed the same general concern when breaking down Exum’s draft stock last year. “Not natural commanding the back end and making coverage adjustments vs. complex schemes,” the analysis read. “Likes to do things his own way.” If there’s one thing Zimmer won’t stand for, it’s freelancing. Exum can be a contender for this position, but he won’t be able to survive if he relies on his own devices.
That leaves Anthony Harris, the undrafted rookie out of Virginia who played across the field from Exum in the vaunted UVA-VT Atlantic Coast Conference rivalry. Like Exum with his knee, Harris dropped in the draft – completely out of it, in fact – because of a shoulder surgery (or a “simple clean out,” Harris says to downplay it) that prevented the former Hokie from participating in pre-draft workouts.
Harris had projected as a middle-round pick, and teams were in love with his football IQ. But college film and a good intellect aren’t enough to coax a team to make commitments these days. Prospects need measurable to show the NFL brass, which Harris did not. “Obviously I would’ve liked to perform at the different combines and the different events like that, but the most important thing is being ready to play on Sundays if and when I have the opportunity,” Harris told Cold Omaha, “and I felt like making that decision was the best decision for me to be able to play 100 percent and be ready to go and not have to worry about anything.” Harris is referring to his decision to get surgery when he did. It was really the lesser of two evils. Had Harris waited to get the procedure, teams likely would have been scared off by his impending surgery and neglected to draft him anyway, leaving Harris to get the surgery closer to the season and potentially miss games.
“He has a lot of the traits of starting safeties in this league,” Zimmer said of Harris during rookie camp in early May. “He’s a very instinctive, very, very smart, very communicative safety.” The head coach doesn’t usually lay on the very’s to that extent with an undrafted free agent, so there’s something in Harris that catches the Vikings’ eye. The rookie participated in mini-camp this week but is still working his way back to 100 percent health from the shoulder procedure. Harris has a different skillset from a guy like Exum, who is less focused on the X’s and O’s. He hopes his highly-touted football IQ separates him from the pack. “It’s been something that’s been coming kind of natural to me,” said Harris about learning the playbook, “just being able to pick up on concepts, being able to understand what the coaches want me to do, understanding what I’m doing, understanding what the offense is doing. It’s been a concept of coming naturally and putting in the extra time to study extra film, to get the extra mental reps when I’m out here on the field.”
So if Blanton’s role with the No. 1 group during OTAs and mini-camp meant nothing, according to Zimmer, then it’s safe to say Harris’ less-than-perfect health will be overlooked, too, for now. The slate will effectively be wiped clean when training camp begins and a toilsome five-game preseason slate commences.
The moral of this story is: OK isn’t good enough for Zimmer, especially in his beloved secondary. Just because you’ve got experience, it doesn’t give you seniority. Blanton and Sendejo are the safe picks, but but ironically when you’re choosing a safety, sometimes you have to take a risk.
Sam Ekstrom is a staff writer for Cold Omaha at 105 The Ticket and a play-by-play broadcaster in Burnsville, Minn. Hear him on 105 The Ticket Sunday mornings from 8-10 a.m. on “The Wake Up Call.”