EAGAN — Dallas Turner had a metaphor ready when he was asked about wanting to dive right into the action on the field at TCO Performance Center.
“It’s like seeing a little kid in public and the mom has a backpack leash on them,” Turner said. “The kid wants to go out there run, play and do all this stuff and the moms like, ‘nope, come back over here.’ It’s like that.”
Head coach Kevin O’Connell had the backpack leash on Turner and the other rookies because he doesn’t want to see anyone get injured and fall behind during the offseason program. With Turner they are focusing more on getting him up to speed on the Vikings’ defensive scheme.
“Learning the base way that we aligned, base way we want to play defense…for Dallas, it’s just getting comfortable in that home position on the edge as an outside linebacker,” O’Connell said. “From there, once you can kind of build that comfort, then you can begin to stress him snap in and snap out where he’s lining up in some different spots, doing some different jobs depending on down and distance, who else is in the game with.”
O’Connell noted that once Turner is comfortable with his edge role that they can start to cross train him along with veterans Andrew Ven Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard on rushing inside and create third down packages where all of them are chasing the passer.
For the Vikings first-rounder, a versatile defense isn’t new. With Alabama, he worked as a standup rusher and with his hand in the dirt and aligned in different spots, sometimes even dropping back in coverage. Turner’s first impression of defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ approach is that it was similar in overall philosophy to Nick Saban with the Crimson Tide.
“It’s actually crazy because in the first defensive meeting coach Flores [Brian Flores] orchestrated it with the same rules, regulations, and day one base stuff that was the same in college,” Turner said. “One team, one defense, all about the ball, all about tackling and being physical and playing fast. It’s a lot of the same stuff I was used to in college so there’s a very good resemblance between the two.”
He figured that might be the case. Current Houston Texans star Will Anderson, who played alongside Turner with ‘Bama before being drafted in 2023, told him that his work in college prepared him for this moment.
Of course, he’s also prepare to play under a coach who is known for his toughness too.
“You can tell that he does not play games, he’s all about business and handling business and I’m about the same thing too,” Turner said. “The energy is just colliding and its very good energy for sure, I’m willing to be a sponge and learn whatever I can from him and all the coaches.”
The rookie rusher’s biggest adjustment might end up being about his location. Turner said that he spent some time the night before practice looking at maps at the surrounding states and never imagined he would find himself in the upper Midwest. He grew up in Florida and played in the SEC, so Big Ten country is probably pretty foreign.
“I’m here now, ready to work, happy to be here and ready to see what Minnesota has to offer,” Turner said.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
— I’m very curious how many snaps Turner plays this year considering the Vikings have Van Ginkel and Greenard. Last year only three rookie edge rushers had over 600 snaps. In 2022 and 2021 it was four. It’s not unusual for rookies to put up pretty sizeable pressure numbers. Last season the three players who saw the most playing time ended up with 50-plus pressures.
That might be a lofty goal but if he played between 500-600 snaps and racked up around 40 pressures, that would make a significant impact. DJ Wonnum had 38 last year.
— After watching JJ McCarthy throw the football for about 60 minutes, I think that we should put whatever ideas we had about his ceiling based on college tape away. That doesn’t mean I’m saying he’s the next Mahomes, just that his size and velocity on the ball are impressive, as is his disposition.
During the whole pre-draft process, he was compared to people like Alex Smith but I’m not sure he was a game manager by choice. He looks like he wants to make plays and can rip it.
I also came away curious about the distribution of snaps. We won’t see OTAs for another week but that’s when the whole team will be there. Will it be entirely Darnold? Will McCarthy mix in? I suspect it’s Darnold as QB1 for OTAs but in minicamp in early June we could see some rep splits if they are impressed with JJ.
