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Day 3 Camp Notes
#21
Offensive lineThe Vikings haven’t yet seen the return of Christian Darrisaw to full health, so Rashod Hill is still taking the first-team reps at left tackle. Darrisaw will likely take over when he’s ready, so the more interesting position to take a look at is right guard, where Dakota Dozier and Oli Udoh have rotated with the first team, swapping days where they take the majority of the snaps.
Notably, third-round pick Wyatt Davis was not part of the rotation, often playing with the second or third team.
Practices without pads give us little indication about the state of readiness for the offensive and defensive lines, but Udoh has earned significant praise from Vikings coaches.
“Oli (Udoh) is so athletic,” Kubiak said. “He has a lot of God-given ability. He’s extremely smart and a hard worker. He’s entering Year 3 or 4 here — same scheme and it’s just coming together for him at the right time.”
Kubiak also noted that they’re still willing to play him at tackle, too, and consider him a position-flexible player. That’s a decent indication that even if Udoh doesn’t make the starting lineup that he could provide enough swing versatility that they may not need to carry a 10th offensive lineman as a backup.
Head coach Mike Zimmer is impressed, too.
“He’s a really good athlete,” he said, “and he’s big, has got extremely long arms, has got some physicality to him. I talked to him after practice yesterday and asked him, ‘How did you like being in at guard?’ and he said he loved it.”
With Darrisaw out and Udoh at guard, there’s been some shuffle at tackle, which is why the second-team tackles were Blake Brandel (left) and Evin Ksiezarczyk (right). Playing left guard and center on the second team were Dru Samia and Mason Cole.
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#22
Patrick Peterson noticed Hunter as well.
“It was great to have Danielle out here,” he said. “I remember when he first walked out here at minicamp before we broke up. I was like, ‘Uh, we got us one here for sure.’ He’s just a freak of nature, just ripped up, has the body of a gladiator.”
But the Vikings have more than just Hunter’s return to look forward to. Michael Pierce will be starting at nose tackle this year, and though he missed the first practice on Wednesday because of a calf injury (“not a tweak,” Zimmer stressed), he participated in Thursday individual drills and sat out the team portion. While he was off to the side, we saw a combination of Sheldon RichardsonDalvin Tomlinson and Armon Watts rotated into the first team, with Watts playing nose tackle alongside Richardson in those reps.
The Vikings clearly want to use Richardson as a nickel rusher, but we’ll likely see him rotated into the first-team defensive line rotation in base packages as well. James Lynch was given a second-team opportunity as a result of the defensive line shuffle as well, and that’s some indication that he could be the fifth defensive tackle should they choose to keep that many.
At edge rusher, we saw Stephen Weatherly lined up opposite Hunter. When Hunter was resting, Weatherly would often line up on the left side of the defense — where Hunter typically lines up — and D.J. Wonnum would take the right spot. Patrick Jones and Janarius Robinson would then play second-team defensive end.
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#23
Zach Davidson is getting a somewhat substantial rotation as a third tight end, playing more often than Brandon Dillon and Shane Zylstra in that role.
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#24
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#25
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#26
Quote: @"BarrNone55" said:
Zach Davidson is getting a somewhat substantial rotation as a third tight end, playing more often than Brandon Dillon and Shane Zylstra in that role.
That's an interesting one. I know the kid's pretty raw, but it might be hard to stash him on the practice squad.
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#27
Quote: @PurpleCrush said:
@"BarrNone55" said:
Zach Davidson is getting a somewhat substantial rotation as a third tight end, playing more often than Brandon Dillon and Shane Zylstra in that role.
That's an interesting one. I know the kid's pretty raw, but it might be hard to stash him on the practice squad.
Dillon and Zylstra were undrafted. They're more likely to clear waivers for the PS than Davidson. Just that gives Davidson a leg up in the 53 competition. If someone can teach Davidson to block, I think the Vikings may have hit the jackpot with this 5th rounder. 
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#28
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@PurpleCrush said:
@"BarrNone55" said:
Zach Davidson is getting a somewhat substantial rotation as a third tight end, playing more often than Brandon Dillon and Shane Zylstra in that role.
That's an interesting one. I know the kid's pretty raw, but it might be hard to stash him on the practice squad.
Dillon and Zylstra were undrafted. They're more likely to clear waivers for the PS than Davidson. Just that gives Davidson a leg up in the 53 competition. If someone can teach Davidson to block, I think the Vikings may have hit the jackpot with this 5th rounder. 
Agreed. I get young Jimmy Graham vibes when I see his highlights. Still a ways to go from a fundamental standpoint, but once he gets his feet wet a bit the Vikings could have one of the better TE rooms in the league.
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#29
davidson will be a hidden gem. Size and agile, he could be a serious threat on PA down in the red zone/goalline

Bisi, Beebe, Osborn.  Only one is making it. My money is on KJ
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