Last year Pass Rusher Andrew van Ginkel had spent his breakout campaign after years in Miami as a rotation defender. He immediately felt his impact in the Twin Cities with his Pick-Six in his first game at the NFC North Franchise. This outside the season he received a nice little elevation.
Could a Vikings defender be this year’s Van Ginkel?
Candidates to be this year’s Van Ginkel his fellow Pass Rusher Dallas Turner and the first Rounder of last year JJ McCarthy.
Another choice can be the Safety Theo Jackson. Pro Football Focus’ Bradley Locker recorded him in his All-Breakout team from 2025. He mentioned one player in every position. At safety he chose Theo Jackson.
Locker wrote: “The Vikings concentrated most of their 2025 capital in their attacking and defensive lines, but safety is a position that is worth monitoring this season. Jackson is ready to help alleviate those worries.”
The Vikings arrived the low season with uncertainty on the safety position. Harrison Smith was expected to call it a career and Cam Bynum went on his way to a free desk. Backup Jackson was also not signed for 2025. Only Joshua Metellus stayed on the Roster with 2023 Rookie Jay Ward.
Smith decided to give it another chance and Jackson was again signed for the free agency. The Front Office refused the option to add another safety to the design or the free desk, and then it is a figures. Jackson suddenly climbs the depth card and is now expected to become the third man in the three-man safety rotation of Brian Flores.
“At only 79 defensive snaps last season, Jackson was shining with an overall pff quality of 79.2 and a strict 77.1 pff -cover quality,” Locker added. “In his three years at the Vikings, the former sixth round pick played only 222 total defensive snaps, but has finished above a coverage of 69.0 PFF in every season.”
Jackson has hardly played on the defense and shows that Bynum, Smith and Metellus were fairly healthy in the past three seasons. Every time he was asked to act, he did a respectable work. The Vikes now bet that he can remain effective in a greater role.
“With Camryn Bynum no longer in Minnesota, the Vikings have not signed or arranged someone to replace him directly. That leaves Jackson the next man with Harrison Smith and Josh Metellus to play an important role in the unique defense of Brian Flores. After three Vikings Safeties has been a significant contribution to the closing of the.
Jackson, a resident of Tennessee, went to the University of Tennessee and was drawn up by the birthplace Titans in 2022. When Lewis Cine sustained his seasonal injury in his debut season, the Vikings still needed a depth security and found Rookie Jackson on Tenne TenneNesson.
Since then he has been a prominent backup and earned a lot of praise from teammates and coaches, but he had to wait for his chance.
In April, the legendary safety Smith opened itself to the media about his new safety measure: ‘He always makes plays. Literally from the day he arrived here, I had something like ‘how did the titans let him go? “And that is not to hit the titans.
Smith has seen protections come and go over the years. Bynum was his Wingman in the last three seasons. Because there is no real competition on the Roster, Jackson is the logical successor.
More from Smith: “Everything I have seen from Theo is that he has a lot of ability, he is smart, he knows how to be a professional that I think is very important, [considering] The length of a season, all the different roles that you can play and whatever role he is connected, special teams, starting role in defense or a few games here or for defense, he comes in, he does his work at a high level, he makes playing, he is energetic. In my opinion he is great. “
Jackson signed a three -year contract extension worth $ 9,365 million. Chances are that the 26-year-old will register his first career start in the 2025 campaign.
Editors note: information from Pff” Over the capAnd Sports reference helped with this article.
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