Going into last season, the Vikings secondary was the most maligned unit on the roster. They featured aging former All-Pro safety Harrison Smith and a middle-market free agent signing at corner in Byron Murphy and not much else. That’s how it appeared on paper at least. Then first-year Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores stepped in with big ideas on how to transform the defense overall.
Flores didn’t just change schemes in his first year in Minnesota, he may have invented a new defensive scheme entirely. The Vikings became the only team in the NFL to feature a trio of safeties on nearly every play. The change in schematics served the Vikings in two distinct ways. First, it allowed the Vikings to keep their best secondary players on the field in Smith, Josh Metellus, and Camryn Bynum. That helped Flores cover up for the lack of depth the Vikings had at corner in 2023. Second, it served to allow Flores to confuse offenses and blitz from a variety of different defensive looks. The heavy blitzing didn’t necessarily lead to gaudy sack totals, however, Flores using the three safeties as interchangeable levers managed to generate crucial turnovers throughout the season.
Overall, the Vikings secondary ended up not being nearly as bad as projected thanks to Flores’ creativity. Having already previewed the defensive line and linebackers for the Vikings, Last Word on Sports will now assess whether the secondary can once again make an incremental jump this season.
Safety Trio Should Grow in Year 2 with Flores
As good as the Vikings safeties were in 2023, even more should be expected in 2024. The jumps made by both Josh Metellus and Camryn Bynum under Flores a year ago feel very real. Metellus was a special teams ace and captain before Flores uncovered his defensive value in training camp last year. Metellus ended up famously lining up at every position on defense last year and was the defense’s tone-setter. The respect for Metellus around the league was evident as he led the player vote for Pro Bowl safeties. With a full season of defensive experience under his belt, a jump to All-Pro status could be within reach for the versatile safety. After all, Bynum was able to make a huge jump in his second season as a starter in 2023.
Camryn Bynum played a lot more deep safety than Metellus, alternating with Harrison Smith as the team’s primary free safety. Though like Metellus, Bynum was overlooked early in his career. The team even drafted Lewis Cine in the first round two years ago as an expected replacement for him. Bynum delayed those plans by thoroughly beating out Cine in camp and ascending to be one of the better young safeties in the game. Bynum should be squarely back in Pro Bowl contention with another year of development.
If there is a concern for the unit it continues to be the age of Smith, who recently turned 35. The lack of development shown by Cine leaves the Vikings short on depth and very reliant on the aging star. Smith has without question lost a step from his All-Pro prime but remained productive a season ago. The Vikings are going to hope that his innate feel for the game continues to overshadow his declining athleticism for at least one more year.
Question Marks at Corner Limit Vikings Secondary Upside
Even with the quality at safety, questions at corner again remain that could hamper the Vikings’ secondary this season. To be fair it’s difficult to build a quality corner room in today’s NFL, almost as difficult as actually playing the position. And the Vikings did make some fringe moves at the position this offseason, such as bringing in veteran Shaquill Griffin. However, it’s largely still the same group that they attempted to hide a season ago.
The early plan seems to be to attempt lining up top corner Byron Murphy in the slot more this season. It initially makes sense, given that his small stature and willingness to tackle would play up in the slot. However, for that to happen the Vikings would need elevated play from multiple corners on their roster. The most obvious candidate would be second-year Mekhi Blackmon, who flashed quality corner traits as a rookie. He often performed well on an island and rarely looked out of place on the perimeter.
Beyond Blackmon though, the rest of the group is iffy at best. Shaq Griffin should be viewed more as a solid reserve at this point in his career, coming off back-to-back pedestrian seasons that saw him get cut by the Texans after a rough start in 2023. Former second-rounder Andrew Booth, who unfortunately was drafted right after Cine, can also be labeled a bust at this point. That would leave former fourth-rounder Akayleb Evans as the most realistic remaining hope. And while Evans has had some solid moments in his first two seasons, he’s been inconsistent at best.
With the lack of a breakout candidate, outside of Blackmon, Murphy will likely be relegated to outside corner duty. As a result, the Vikings’ secondary as a whole takes a hit on their 2024 season outlook.
2024 Vikings Secondary Outlook: B-
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