Every player from the Vikings, Packers, Bears and Lions was recently ranked by Pro Football Focus, which determined the Packers, winners of three straight NFC North division titles, have the best roster in the division.
Here’s an image depicting a breakdown of Minnesota’s roster. The grades are based on last season.
As you can see in the next image, each player is assigned a color to determine what type of player they are.
Adrian Peterson is the only Viking with an elite ranking. Offensive linemen John Sullivan, Brandon Fusco and Phil Loadholt are the only players given a high quality mark, which is part of the reason Minnesota’s roster was ranked 29th in the league.
The rest of Minnesota’s offense, as ESPN’s Ben Goessling says, is pretty good. Only left guard Charlie Johnson was given a below average rating, and wide receiver Jerome Simpson was rated average.
Defensively, the biggest shock was the poor starter rating given to outside linebacker Chad Greenway, the team’s leading tackler every season since 2008.
Some might think our rating of Chad Greenway is harsh, but the drop-off in his play from 2012 to 2013 was sharp. They reportedly plan on moving him to weak side linebacker this year, with rookie Anthony Barr taking over on the strong side, but his play needs to improve dramatically in 2014.
In fairness, Greenway played the majority of last season with a broken wrist.
Cornerback Xavier Rhodes was given an average rating for his rookie season, but his future is much brighter.
NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal says “Rhodes can set the groundwork by holding his own against the game’s best receivers” in his second season. A better campaign in 2014 could help a beleaguered Vikings secondary gain respectability.
