Husain Abdullah joined the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008. In the first two years of his career, Abdullah played in all but two regular season games but started none and his contributions mostly came on special teams.
Prior to the beginning of this season, it was thought that 2008 second round pick Tyrell Johnson and 2009 seventh round pick Jamarca Sanford would be battling for the starting position at strong safety.
Through solid work ethic, a change in religious ritual and dietary habits, and stellar preseason performances Abdullah surprised everybody by beating out both Johnson and Sanford for the starting gig.
I have to admit that I was not too happy when I first heard this news, as I thought it did more to reflect negatively on Johnson and Sanford than it did to reflect positively on Abdullah. After a solid start to the season, and most recently being a lone bright spot on a struggling defense, Abdullah looks like he could be a keeper.
On Sunday, Jay Cutler and the Bears put up 237 passing yards, but avoided Abdullah in doing so. In fact, Cutler only threw towards Abdullah a grand total of five times. Only one of those plays went for a completion, which resulted in a gain of nine yards.
Of the five passes thrown his way, he was able to intercept two of those passes, matching the interception total of Tyrell Johnson and Jamarca Sanford’s career numbers combined.
That is a dominating performance from any safety in the league.
Abdullah needs to become a little more aggressive and be more consistent on taking angles, but he is getting the experience needed to properly make those improvements, and his 38 tackles can be considered no worse than what any other Vikings safety would be expected to put up.
While this team has plenty of under achievers to point out at the moment, I think the coaching staff and Abdullah deserve credit for taking steps towards potentially solving a future problem at strong safety.
Keep track of the youngster as the season continues.
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