Minnesota Vikings Defense Ranked 4th Best in NFL

The Minnesota Vikings are the fourth best defensive team in the NFL, according to NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal

Despite an imposing defensive roster, Minnesota ranks behind the Jacksonville Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams.

The Minnesota Vikings arguably had the best defensive line in the NFL last year. Leading the line is three-time Pro Bowler Everson Griffen. Griffen has double-digit sack figures in three of his last four seasons with the Vikings.

At defensive end the team has 23 year old Danielle Hunter. Hunter has 25.5 sacks in his first three years at Minnesota. He achieved this figure in spite of only breaking into the starting lineup in the 2017 season.

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Add to this, two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Linval Joseph closes running gaps and pressurizes the opposition’s quarterback. If that wasn’t intimidating enough, the Minnesota Vikings added a star defensive player to their roster this offseason.

AP Defensive Rookie of the Year Sheldon Richardson will make the Vikings unit even meaner heading into next season. Richardson also has one Pro Bowl appearance to his name.

However, Rosenthal cited a lack of depth as the reason that the Vikings are not higher up in the rankings.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have Calais Campbell, who ranked second in sacks last year. Alongside Campbell is Marcell Dareus, who joined the team via a trade last year. The team also Florida defensive tackle Taven Bryan.

The Philadelphia Eagles lost Beau Allen and Vinny Curry. However, they signed former Seahawk Michael Bennett and DT Haloti Ngata.

The Super Bowl winning Eagles boast an impressive defensive line. It has Chris Long and Derek Bennett, as well as stars Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox.

The Los Angeles Rams don’t have the same depth as the Jaguars or the Eagles. However, the signing of Ndamukong Suh to support Aaron Donald makes for a strong defensive line. Aaron Donald rated as the NFL’s No. 1 DT by Pro Football Focus last year.