Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Vikings are in a great spot when it comes to the future of their defensive line. They will have the tricky decision at the end of the year of whether to re-sign defensive end Jared Allen or to move on and insert the increasingly valuable Everson Griffen on the right side.
This season, however, Allen will be hoping to get close to the 22 sacks he totaled in 2011 and improve upon the 12 he had last year in order to not only help the Vikings, but his future as well. Allen has been a constant disruptor in opponents’ backfields since joining the Vikings in 2008, and will continue to do so in 2012 as long as he stays healthy.
On the other side of the defensive line is seven-year veteran Brian Robison, who stepped into the left end starting role in 2011 and has totaled 16.5 sacks the past two seasons. He will likely be a mainstay on the left side for the foreseeable future and will be playing opposite of Allen or Griffen in 2014.
The drafting of defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd was the coaches thinking ahead and finding a possible replacement for the 33-year-old Kevin Williams. He has been a huge part of the Vikings’ ability to stop the run the past decade, especially when he teamed up with the mammoth Pat Williams to create the “Williams Wall” when the Vikings had one of the premier defenses in the league.
Williams will be the perfect player for Floyd to learn under as he has been a premier run stopper for years. Floyd will spend much of the 2013 season substituting in for either Williams or the other defensive tackle Letroy Guion, who was signed to a three-year contract extension last summer. And although he became a full-time starter last season, his future with the Vikings now likely depends on his play this year.
Guion will likely sacrifice time to Floyd this season and by the end of the year, the two of them could possibly be fighting for the starting spot which makes them two of the most important players to keep an eye on this season. Guion has been mainly a run-stopper in his limited NFL experience, which is the same presence Floyd is expected to bring to the table. Whoever performs the best will likely get the majority of snaps at the end of the season.
Even though there are a few question marks surrounding the defensive line, they are all good problems to have as Griffen and Floyd are two talented players who will be starters in the NFL sooner or later. Griffen will be the one getting more playing time early this year as he totaled eight sacks last season playing in all 16 games while only starting one.
Nick Baker is a contributing writer for Rant Sports and you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and add him to your network on Google.
