The 2023 season is inching closer and closer by the day and we here at Vikings Wire are previewing the season from every angle. Today, we continue profiling the Minnesota Vikings roster on the defensive side of the football.
We are currently writing player profiles on each Viking on the roster with projections for what their 2023 season could look like. How things look projecting forward is where the real intrigue lies.
Leading up to training camp, we will be looking at each position from a more in-depth perspective. Today, we will be looking at the edge rushers.
The room
Performance in 2022
The safeties were an interesting group last season. They were asked to play mostly deep in a cover-2 shell or in quarters, hindering the maximum effectiveness of both Bynum and Smith.
Smith is at his best when he is able to roam around on the back end of the defense. He can play deep, but is at his most effective in the box. He has 16.5 sacks and 43.0 tackles for loss in his career, but zero sacks and 1.0 tackles for loss in 2022. Smith did tie his career high with five interceptions, but allowing him to play like himself wasn’t in the cards and his performance reflected that.
Bynum was fine playing as a deep safety. He got taken advantage on certain concepts and didn’t have the athleticism to make up ground and compensate for his mistakes. He did have two interceptions and started all 17 games due to Cine’s injury, but at his best is only slightly above average at the position.
Cine only played in two defensive snaps due to breaking his leg in week four against the New Orleans Saints in London. That was the point where Ed Donatell was going to start rotating him in on defense, but that never came to fruition.
Metellus played sparingly as a safety in 2022, but made it count when he did play. He secured the game-winning interception against the Detroit Lions in week three. Metellus was a special teams ace as well, blocking punts in both weeks 16 and 17. He was nothing but solid when he was asked to take the field.
Expectations in 2023
This group has really high expectations. Smith can still play at an All-Pro level and Flores is going to use him in a versatile way.
Bynum is the interesting one. He is in line to be the starter to start the season, but Cine is going to be right on his tail fighting for the job. The hope is that Cine takes the job sooner rather than later because of his draft pedigree and elite athleticism for the position.
Metellus was used in three safety packages during minicamp and that has carried over to training camp. His special teams prowess will likely keep him on the team and used in big nickel packages.
Ward is a wild card. He has experience playing everywhere on the back end of the defense and could be utilized by Flores in a myriad of ways. Expect him to work a lot in the slot and in the box during his early snaps.
What does the future of the room look like?
With Smith likely done and Metellus’ contract expiring after the year is done, the safety room is going to be Cine, Ward and Bynum. That is a really good trio to build upon. All three can do different things and be versatile on the back end of the defense. Doing so will give Flores the ability to take advantage of matchups in multiple spots.
The Vikings could choose to bring back both Smith and Metellus on small deals, but that seems unlikely when they will both hit the free agent market.
