Vikings linebacker position depth a concern at camp

During the offseason, the linebacker position may have gotten short shrift in the team’s rebuilding efforts.

Longtime starting middle linebacker E.J. Henderson was not re-signed, his brother Erin was re-signed for only one year after his first year as a starter and the coaches installed Jasper Brinkley as the new middle linebacker, even though he missed all of last season with a surgically repaired hip and was slowed at OTAs with a groin injury. Chad Greenway, who made the Pro Bowl as an alternate, is the leader of the unit, but even he felt last season was not his best.

The team brought in free agent Marvin Mitchell from Miami and drafted Audie Cole from NC State, but Cole was taken in the seventh round and will need some time to develop. Thus, many observers are quietly concerned that the unit lacks some depth.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, and a lot of time for that to happen,” said Greenway. “I think that bringing in Marvin, having Jasper, who’s had a year to really get himself ready to go, Erin really having a solid year (in 2011) and really going to blow up this year, we feel we are going to be much better than people are going to give our group credit for. We’re just going to go prove it; we’re not going to do anything other than that.”

Greenway’s comments aside, the coaching staff was concerned enough to trade its defensive end depth for depth at linebacker by making Everson Griffen a full-time linebacker. Last season Griffen played on the defensive line, dabbled at linebacker and even worked as the gunner on punt returns. But this season, coach Leslie Frazier is determined to get the talented Griffen on the field and has him working exclusively at linebacker.

“I want him to show that he can play that position,” said Frazier. “We feel like we’ve got two outstanding starters at DE -- he was our third DE. But we want him to show us that he’s now a LB.”

Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Alan Williams believes the depth at the position is improving.

“Marvin Mitchell has been outstanding [in camp]," said Williams. “He is multi-talented; he can play every position across the board.”

Williams also said linebacker Larry Dean and the rookie Cole have looked good in camp and they may be increasing the difficulty of decisions regarding the LB depth chart. Is that a signal to the three LBs that have been getting the 1st string reps during training camp that nothing is written in stone? Henderson seems to think so.

“Maybe the media knows something I don’t know, because they keep telling me that I am guaranteed to be the starter, but in the NFL it’s not like that,” Henderson said. “You’ve got to go out and work every day and there is always someone on your tail that is pushing you to get better. And as soon as you decide you feel comfortable or complacent where you’re at, there is another person that is waiting to take your spot.”

Perhaps more than any other position on the team, linebacker could be the spot where anything is possible.

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