Which Vikings starters are in danger of getting benched after training camp?
If you thought the 2022 Vikings season was a rollercoaster, just wait until you get through this year's training camp.
The Minnesota Vikings enter 2023 with some of the most unforgettable moments — who could forget Justin Jefferson's unbelievable catch against the Bills or the team's 40-3 loss to the Cowboys, their second-worst loss at home in franchise history?
Which "unforgettable" will it be this year, the good kind or the bad kind? A little bit of both? Either way, there's nothing like a quippy Cousin-ism (quoting Margaret Thatcher) to start the season off strong: "If my critics saw me walking on water, they would say it's because I can't swim." Preach it, Kirk.
After much offseason shuffling, the Vikings have a reinvigorated squad looking to right last year's playoff wrongs, but quite a few positions remain in flux.
Here are three starters who could be surprisingly benched after camp.
Vikings starter who could be benched No. 3: Camryn Bynum
The Vikings have one safety locked in: Harrison Smith. Who's going to play next to him?
The general consensus is 2021 pick Camryn Bynum, who played the most defensive snaps of any Vikings player last season.
In his second year in Minnesota, Bynum recorded two picks, six passes defended, and a whopping 81 combined tackles — he's definitely the guy to unseat. Entering the prime of his career, the only reason Bynum would fall down the depth chart is if former first-rounder Lewis Cine or Josh Metellus put together a truly jaw-dropping training camp.
Cine may have the higher ceiling of the two, but he's severely short on experience; he broke his leg and ended up taking just two snaps in his rookie season in 2022. Should Bynum disappoint this summer, and should Cine stay healthy, the higher-upside product (Cine) may get the nod.
For what it's worth, Pro Football Focus predicted Bynum would get the starting spot in 2023 but gives him a pretty abysmal rating, a lowly 58.7 overall grade. In his first full season, Cine could do Bynum one better.
Vikings starter who could be benched No. 2: Harrison Phillips
Why, oh why, did the Vikings let Dalvin Tomlinson go? Minnesota never really filled the hole Tomlinson left behind, and heading into the upcoming season, the defensive line is going to be a ginormous wild card.
Let's get this straight: The Vikings need veteran Harrison Phillips. The hefty run-stuffing defensive tackle started every game in 2022 and totaled a career-high 693 snaps; he recorded 62 tackles, three tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks on the year, enjoying a particularly dominant outing against his former team, the Bills, in that electrifying comeback victory.
So if the Vikings are not starting Phillips, that's a major red flag. That being said, Phillips did miss time due to injuries back in Buffalo and could regress a bit in his sixth year in the league. In the event Phillips picks up a small injury this preseason or his performance drops off a cliff, the Vikings may frantically sign a veteran tackle or perhaps place their trust in 2023 fifth-rounder Jaquelin Roy. Roy was drafted with the expectation that he wouldn't develop into a starting-caliber lineman for several years, but sometimes, timelines need to be hurried along.
Brian Flores' new-look defense will also likely feature Dean Lowry, Jonathan Bullard, and Khyiris Tonga, a solid but somewhat position-less group that could play a chaotic game of musical chairs in the trenches.
Again, if Phillips is on the bench to start the season, the Vikings' defense will probably suffer as a whole. In this far-from-ideal situation, Minnesota would need to triage the defensive line corps and plug the gaps where it can.
Vikings starter who could be benched No. 1: Marcus Davenport
Marcus Davenport's benching operates under the assumption that Danielle Hunter is not traded before the start of the season.
Davenport joined the Vikings on a cheap, prove-it deal this past March around the same time Za'Darius Smith was traded to the Browns. The former Saints pass-rusher isn't a perfect plug-and-play for Smith, yet Sean Payton saw something in him to draft him 14th overall in 2018.
Let's suppose Payton saw… wrong?
That Davenport wouldn't become any franchise's next best edge rusher, that his concerning injury history is habit and not an anomaly, and that he's actually one of the biggest draft busts of the past decade.
An up-and-down camp could relegate Davenport to the sidelines giving backup pieces D.J. Wonnum, Patrick Jones II, and Luiji Vilain the chance to earn the No. 2 pass-rushing spot alongside Hunter.
Davenport has only started 32 games in his five years in New Orleans and has yet to rack up double-digit sacks in a single season, and at this point, one may presume he's not going to live up to his potential. He'll fizzle out in preseason, lose out to Wonnum — the most consistent option, arguably — and fade into oblivion like all those failed first-round selections before him.
Sucks for the Vikings, but maybe that'll teach Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to establish better relationships with his pass-rushers.
