2021 Minnesota Vikings season

The 2021 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 61st in the National Football League (NFL), their sixth playing home games at U.S. Bank Stadium and their eighth and final under head coach Mike Zimmer. They were eliminated from playoff contention for the second straight season following a Week 17 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The day after the team's last game of the season, the Vikings fired Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman.

The Vikings entered the 2021 NFL draft with no second-round pick, having traded it to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for DE Yannick Ngakoue during the 2020 season; however, they picked up an extra third-round selection when they traded Ngakoue to the Baltimore Ravens a few weeks later. They also received an additional fifth-round selection from the Ravens as part of a multi-pick trade during the 2020 draft, as well as additional fourth-round selections from the Chicago Bears (as part of a multi-pick trade) and the Buffalo Bills (as part of the trade that sent Stefon Diggs to the Bills ahead of the 2020 season). The Vikings were also awarded two compensatory selections at the NFL's annual spring owners' meetings; they received one additional pick in the fourth round and one in the sixth round, compensating for the losses of Mackensie Alexander, Jayron Kearse, Andrew Sendejo, Trae Waynes and Stephen Weatherly. On March 19, 2021, the Vikings were forced to forfeit a seventh-round selection due to a salary cap violation relating to a practice squad player during the 2019 season.

On the first day of the draft, the Vikings traded their first-round pick and a fourth-round pick to the New York Jets in exchange for the first-round pick the Jets had received from the Seattle Seahawks (23rd overall) and two additional third-round picks. With their new first-round pick, the Vikings selected offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw, the first player at the position to be taken in the first round by the Vikings since Matt Kalil with the fourth overall pick in 2012. With no second-round pick, the Vikings' draft resumed in the third round with the picks they received from the Jets the previous day and the one they received from Baltimore in exchange for Yannick Ngakoue, in addition to their original third-round pick. With these, they picked quarterback Kellen Mond, linebacker Chazz Surratt, guard Wyatt Davis and defensive end Patrick Jones II. In the fourth round, the Vikings took running back Kene Nwangwu, cornerback Camryn Bynum and defensive end Janarius Robinson, followed by wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette and tight end/punter Zach Davidson in the fifth. The Vikings' final pick of the draft came in the sixth round, when they selected defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman with the 199th overall pick.

Draft trades

Owner/chairman – Zygi Wilf Owner/president – Mark Wilf Owner/vice chairman – Leonard Wilf Executive vice president/chief marketing officer – Martin Nance Chief operating officer – Andrew Miller General manager – Rick Spielman Executive vice president of football operations – Rob Brzezinski Co-director of player personnel – Ryan Monnens Co-director of player personnel & Director of college scouting – Jamaal Stephenson Director of pro scouting – Reed Burckhardt Assistant director of pro scouting – Chris Blanco National Scout – Chisom Opara National Scout – Pat Roberts National Scout – Mike Sholiton Director of analytics – Scott Kuhn Consultant – Bud Grant Head coaches

Head coach – Mike Zimmer Assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator/defensive line – Andre Patterson Offensive coaches

Offensive coordinator – Klint Kubiak Quarterbacks – Andrew Janocko Running backs – Kennedy Polamalu Wide receivers – Keenan McCardell Tight ends – Brian Pariani Offensive line – Phil Rauscher Assistant offensive line – Ben Steele Senior offensive advisor – Rick Dennison Offensive quality control/assistant running backs – AC Patterson Offensive quality control/assistant wide receivers – Christian Jones | | | Defensive coaches Co-defensive coordinator/linebackers – Adam Zimmer Assistant defensive line – Imarjaye Albury Defensive backs – Karl Scott Assistant defensive backs/safeties – Roy Anderson Senior defensive assistant – Paul Guenther Defensive quality control/assistant linebackers – Sam Siefkes Special teams coaches

Special teams coordinator – Ryan Ficken Assistant special teams – Robert Steeples Strength and conditioning

Head strength and conditioning – Josh Hingst Assistant strength and conditioning – Derik Keyes Assistant strength and conditioning – Marquis Johnson |

33 Dalvin Cook 31 Wayne Gallman 30 C. J. Ham FB 25 Alexander Mattison 26 Kene Nwangwu Wide receivers (WR)

85 Dan Chisena 18 Justin Jefferson 17 K. J. Osborn 15 Ihmir Smith-Marsette 12 Dede Westbrook Tight ends (TE)

83 Tyler Conklin 40 Zach Davidson 82 Ben Ellefson 35 Luke Stocker | | Offensive linemen (OL) 56 Garrett Bradbury C 64 Blake Brandel T 72 Ezra Cleveland G 71 Christian Darrisaw T 51 Wyatt Davis G 78 Dakota Dozier G 69 Rashod Hill T 75 Brian O'Neill T 74 Oli Udoh G Defensive linemen (DL)

93 Patrick Jones II DE 92 James Lynch DT 58 Michael Pierce DT 90 Sheldon Richardson DT 94 Dalvin Tomlinson DT 96 Armon Watts DT 79 Kenny Willekes DE 98 D. J. Wonnum DE | | Linebackers (LB) 55 Anthony Barr OLB 45 Troy Dye MLB 48 Blake Lynch OLB 41 Chazz Surratt OLB 59 Nick Vigil OLB Defensive backs (DB)

24 Mackensie Alexander CB 29 Kris Boyd CB 27 Cameron Dantzler CB 44 Josh Metellus SS  7 Patrick Peterson CB 22 Harrison Smith SS 23 Xavier Woods FS Special teams (ST)

 3 Jordan Berry P 42 Andrew DePaola LS  1 Greg Joseph K | | Practice squad 62 Cole Banwart G 34 Jake Bargas FB 47 Tuf Borland OLB 46 Myles Dorn FS 68 Kyle Hinton G  9 Trishton Jackson WR 91 T. Y. McGill DT 21 Bryan Mills CB 87 Myron Mitchell WR 39 Parry Nickerson CB 61 Timon Parris T 36 A. J. Rose RB 50 T. J. Smith DT  5 Tye Smith CB 66 Eddie Yarbrough DE Reserve

-- Chad Beebe WR (IR) 73 Tashawn Bower DE (COVID-19) 43 Camryn Bynum FS (COVID-19) 52 Mason Cole C (IR) 57 Ryan Connelly OLB (IR) 97 Everson Griffen DE (NF-Ill.) 20 Harrison Hand CB (COVID-19) 89 Chris Herndon TE (COVID-19) 99 Danielle Hunter DE (IR) 81 Bisi Johnson WR (IR) 54 Eric Kendricks MLB (COVID-19) 13 Blake Proehl WR (IR) 95 Janarius Robinson DE (IR) 66 Jordon Scott DT (IR) 84 Irv Smith Jr. TE (IR) -- Nate Stanley QB (IR) 19 Adam Thielen WR (IR) 76 Jaylen Twyman DT (NF-Inj.) Rookies in italics 49 active, 18 reserve, 15 practice squad |

The Vikings' preliminary preseason schedule was announced on May 12. The exact dates and times were finalized on June 3.

In addition to their usual six games home and away against their NFC North rivals, the Vikings would also play games against each of the teams from the NFC West and the AFC North, as well as the two teams that, like the Vikings, finished in third place in their divisions in the NFC East and NFC South in 2020: the Dallas Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers. Following an agreement between the league and the National Football League Players Association to expand the regular season schedule to 17 games, the Vikings also played against the Los Angeles Chargers, one of the third-placed teams from the American Football Conference (AFC) whom they were not originally scheduled to play in 2021. The Vikings' 2021 schedule was announced on May 12.

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

This was head coach Mike Zimmer's first return to Cincinnati since 2013, his last season with the Bengals before departing to become the Vikings head coach. Zimmer served as defensive coordinator for the Bengals under then-head coach Marvin Lewis from 2008 to 2013.

Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Source: ProFootballReference.com

Three Vikings players were named to the 2022 Pro Bowl when the rosters were announced on December 20, 2021. On offense, Dalvin Cook led the voting among NFC running backs to reach his third straight Pro Bowl, while WR Justin Jefferson made it two in a row; on defense, Harrison Smith received the most fan votes among NFC safeties to go to his sixth Pro Bowl. Those three were joined by T Brian O'Neill on January 26, 2022, after Tampa Bay Buccaneers tackle Tristan Wirfs was ruled out due to injury. Quarterback Kirk Cousins was added to the NFC roster on January 31 following the withdrawal of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers due to injury.

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