Could he have a spot on the 2019 roster?"After the smoke clea

red and the dust settled from the Undrafted Free Agent signing frenzy last April Mike Remmers Jersey , one of the more intriguing names that landed with the Minnesota Vikings was Hercules Mata’afa. An undersized defensive tackle at Washington State, he was a consensus All-American and a first-team All-Pac 12 selection in his final season with the Cougars.Unfortunately, we didn’t get a whole lot of opportunity to witness what he was capable of in the NFL, as he suffered a knee injury during OTAs in June and was placed on injured reserve.However, it appears that Mata’afa is once again ready to go, as he took to both Twitter and Instagram to document his progress.We still don’t really know what kind of role Mata’afa might have in the National Football League. At 250 pounds, he almost certainly can’t be a defensive tackle at this level, but could potentially be more of an edge player. In OTAs last year, the Vikings actually started him out with the linebackers before transitioning him back to the defensive line before his injury.Hercules Mata’afa is a guy that I was pretty interested in seeing last season after he signed with Minnesota http://www.thevikingslockerroom.com/authentic-marcus-sherels-jersey , and now, hopefully, we’ll finally get an opportunity to see what he’s capable of.Football Outsiders on the Vikings defense: Could they be even better? We’re moving right along in our series of questions with Football Outsiders writer Scott Kacsmar in conjunction with the release of this year’s Football Outsiders 2018 Almanac. The first few days of questions focused on the Minnesota Vikings’ offense, and now we’re going to move on to the other side of the football.Last season, the Vikings fielded one of the best defenses in the National Football League, finishing #1 in the NFL in both points and yardage allowed. They bring back nearly all the starters, and added a lot more pieces in free agency (though it should be noted that these questions were sent to Scott before the Vikings added safety George Iloka earlier this week). So, what does he think of this year’s version of the Zim Reapers?On defense, the Vikings only lost one starter from 2017 Womens Brian O'Neill Jersey , and they replaced him with a former Defensive Rookie of the Year in Sheldon Richardson. Is there reason to believe that the Vikings’ defense won’t be every bit as stingy in 2018 as they were in 2017?If the Vikings’ defense does have a weak spot, or at the very least something that’s merely “average” rather than outstanding, it’s the lack of turnovers that Scott mentions in his answer. The Vikings, as a team, only had 19 turnovers in the regular season in 2017, though thanks to the way their offense performed they still finished with a +5 in the giveaway/takeaway numbers. It would be helpful for the Vikings if they could generate a few more turnovers this year, certainly.However, this defense has talent on top of talent on top of talent. There are legitimate stars on all three levels, and not only that Rashod Hill Jersey , but there’s incredibly solid depth at all of those positions as well. The one exception to that is the linebacker spot, but with the way the Vikings have managed their roster they’re not going to play a lot of base 4-3, and can use their defensive backs in a manner that could mitigate a lot of the issues if something were to happen to either Eric Kendricks or Anthony Barr.We’ve got one final defensive question for Scott Kacsmar of Football Outsiders that we will be presenting you with tomorrow, so keep your eyes out for that. And, once again, for some of the NFL’s best statistical analysis, be sure to grab yourself a copy of the Football Outsiders 2018 Almanac to peruse while you’re waiting for the regular season to start.