The Minnesota Vikings are entering the 2013 season with high expectations after making the playoffs last year and despite trading away wide receiver Percy Harvin, the offense is expected to be even more explosive with running back Adrian Peterson and exciting rookie Cordarrelle Patterson.
Head coach Leslie Frazier is working on expanding the offense during offseason workouts and one way the team is preparing for the loss of Harvin after the deal to the Seahawks is by using former backup quarterback Joe Webb as a wide receiver. During various OTA workouts Webb was lined up outside and Frazier also said that the team will use him out of the backfield. Webb has dynamic speed and after signing Matt Cassel as a free agent, the team no longer needs him as a backup quarterback.
Another way that the team is planning to soften the blow of losing the dynamic Harvin is with more work from tight end Kyle Rudolph, who had a breakout year last season while making 53 catches for nine touchdowns. Rudolph added an MVP in the Pro Bowl after nabbing five balls for 122 yards and touchdown, but that game doesn't mean much, and now Frazier is hoping that Rudolph can step up even more in the offense.
Rudolph is heading into his third season with the team and Frazier said that he feels the tight end can maintain a Pro Bowl level in 2013 after making such strides last year. Frazier thinks that the MVP will do well for the confidence of Rudolph and that he should be considered in the top tier of players at his position. Christian Ponder is entering a possible make or break year depending on how things go and if he doesn't improve the Vikings could decide to pull him for Cassel.
Ponder will have every opportunity to keep hold of the job and he will have a number of weapons to use from in the All-World Adrian Peterson, Webb, Rudolph and receivers Greg Jennings and Patterson, who is expected to start from the get-go. The team went 10-6 last season and ranked second in rushing yards per game behind Peterson's record season, but Ponder will be expected to improve an offense that ranked 31st in passing yards per game.
