Answers to the Minnesota Vikings biggest questions on defense will reveal how confident they are in their depth

Minnesota Vikings biggest questions on defense

Defensive line: Will Brian Flores prioritizing rotation now that he has depth?

One thing that Flores hasn't done a ton of is rotating his players in and out. He loves to play his best players a very high snap count across the board. Last year, they didn't have much juice in rushing the passer from the interior, so they used the NASCAR package to get it done. Now that they have the horses on the defensive line, will Flores try to rotate players in and out?

The other factor here is the health of the defensive line. Both Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave suffered significant upper body injuries last year, and rotating the defensive line could be a part of the strategy that the Vikings are looking to impelent to keep them healthy. With Jalen Redmond and Taki Taimaini having already stepped up last year and Levi Drake Rodriguez and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins ready to take a step forward, they have options on the front.

Edge rusher: How does Dallas Turner get utilized?

Turner is going to be the number one topic of conversation among fans and analysts throughout the summer when it comes to the Vikings defense. After general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made two separate trades up in the process of selecting him in the NFL Draft, 

Last year, Turner played 310 snaps and 55 of them had him drop back into coverage. With both Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard ahead of him, will they choose to play Turner in more of an off-ball role? Will they use a lot of three edge rusher packages this year? They could do a little bit of everything with him, and the process in which they use him will be a big factor.

Linebacker: Could Kobe King push for rotational snaps in year one?

Linebacker is really interesting. They have their two unquestioned starters in Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace Jr. with Eric Wilson as the third guy. The fourth linebacker is far from certain, but could a rookie end up making an impact? 

King was a sixth-round pick with a relatively limited skillset, but what he's really good at is attacking the line of scrimmage in the running game. Could he take some snaps at some point this season on obvious run downs? The Vikings seem to be very high on him, and its due to that ability in the run game.

Cornerback: Is Isaiah Rodgers the guy at CB2?

This has been hashed and rehashed over the last few months. Is he good enough to be the starting cornerback opposite of Byron Murphy Jr.? He has the ability to thrive in this defense, and that could be a huge factor in the Vikings' success this year.

We will know the answer really quick in training camp, as the Vikings haven't been shy about signing veterans (ie: Stephon Gilmore) if they don't like what they see.

Safety: Will the Vikings use three safeties regularly with other defensive additions?

The Vikings have loved to use three safeties under Flores, but there have been some interesting signals that say they may not want to do so this year. The first one was not re-signing Camryn Bynum but the second is Josh Metellus not having an extension.

Do they believe that Metellus or his position aren't something they want to invest in? There is the aadded element of Flores potentially leaving the Vikings after the year. 

It could also be that the Vikings don't want to play Theo Jackson in the Bymum role, taking some of those snaps away, especially with a defensive front that they want to play more than they did last year. This could be a really interesting element to this whole conversation.