Minnesota Vikings: Positives and negatives from 2020 season
Positive: New faces stepping up
Coming into the 2020 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings knew they would have some new faces stepping up in every aspect of the depth chart following a busy offseason that resulted in multiple players leaving the team either via free agency or trades.
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Most notably, Minnesota traded away wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills, resulting in a big question mark arising as to who would step up alongside Adam Thielen in the receiving game. On defense, the Vikings also saw the likes of defensive end Everson Griffen, cornerback Xavier Rhodes and multiple other key contributors from past seasons leave the team in free agency.
With those absences, new faces had to step up right away for Minnesota, and the team saw a handful of players do just that throughout the 2020 season.
The top contributor that was new to the team this year was rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who broke the single-season rookie record for most receptions and receiving yards in NFL history en route to earning a nod to the Pro Bowl in his first year as a pro.
On the defensive end of things, Minnesota had rookies Cameron Dantzler, Jeff Gladney and plenty of other new faces step up and move into starting jobs with holes all over the place in the defensive unit.
Although the overall play of specifically the defense took a hit in 2020, there were key contributors that stepped up and performed well either in their rookie campaigns or as a starter for the first time. That will only be a positive for the organization moving forward as it continues to build into what it hopes will be a playoff team once again in the 2021 season.