Vikings Second-Year DE Kenny Willekes is Ready to Step Up With Danielle Hunter Out

Players like Danielle Hunter aren't replaceable. The Vikings losing their superstar defensive end to a second season-ending injury in as many years was a brutal blow for both Hunter and the team, which is suddenly lacking proven depth at the position.

But this is when I break out a couple overused NFL injury cliches: the show goes on, and it's all about the next man up.

In this case, the next man up is technically D.J. Wonnum, the 2020 fourth-round pick who was in the No. 3 role behind Hunter and Everson Griffen before Hunter's injury. Wonnum is now a starter who will play a heavy workload going forward, and the Vikings need him to start producing at a higher level to keep their pass rush afloat.

With that said, this is nothing new for Wonnum, who has made six career starts and played nearly 900 snaps dating back to his rookie season.

Instead, let's talk about the next man up behind Griffen and Wonnum: 2020 seventh-rounder Kenny Willekes. After missing all of his rookie season with a knee injury, the Michigan State product battled back and stayed ready for his opportunity, whenever that might come. With Stephen Weatherly getting traded over the bye week, Willekes's moment came on Sunday Night Football against the Cowboys.

He played 16 snaps, recording a pressure of Cooper Rush and impressing the coaching staff with his physicality. For Willekes, it was the culmination of a long journey, from growing up dreaming about playing in the NFL to becoming a star in the Big Ten and then attacking the recovery process throughout his rookie year.

"It was a pretty surreal feeling," he said. "Something I've been working towards for a long time. Got the game taken away in 2020, had to sit back and watch from the sidelines, learn from the sidelines. To get that opportunity to go out there, it was a dream come true."

The Vikings were thrilled to land Willekes in the seventh round (No. 225 overall) in 2020 after some analysts had projected he would go as high as the fourth or fifth round. He may have even had an opportunity to play as a rookie if he hadn't gotten injured, considering the Vikings rolled out players like Jalyn Holmes, Hercules Mata'afa, Eddie Yarbrough, and Jordan Brailford at DE last season. 

But the year off for Willekes gave him time to adjust to the NFL, dive into the playbook, and prepare himself to attack this offseason.

"It was definitely a long year, but something I'm very grateful for," Willekes said. "I had a good support staff around me, I was able to do my rehab up here with Matt [Duhamel] and the rest of the Vikings' training staff. The strength staff, they were really good to me. I was up here all offseason and they helped me bounce back, they taught me how to be a pro, really helped me get ready for this season."

Willekes has been honing his technique with defensive line coaches Andre Patterson and Imarjaye Albury, while soaking up everything he can from being around a couple veteran stars in Hunter and Griffen. After playing 16 snaps in his NFL debut, he'll likely see even more this week in Baltimore. Hunter saw 27 snaps in the first half against the Cowboys but obviously is no longer in the picture. It'll be Griffen and Wonnum starting, with Willekes rotating in heavily and rookie Patrick Jones II likely making his NFL debut as well.

What has impressed coaches the most about Willekes is his constant effort. One of the biggest compliments you can give a pass rusher is to say they play with a high motor — Vikings fans will remember that term being used to describe Jared Allen all the time — and Willekes definitely has that. His effort and instincts, paired with impressive flexibility and strength, help him make up for a lack of elite size or athleticism.

Simply put, he brings it in practice every single day. And that's always been the case dating back to his Michigan State career. It's how he went from walking on to the MSU football team in 2015 to being named first team All-Big Ten in 2018 and 2019. His strength, motor, and football IQ helped him rack up 23.5 sacks and 49 total tackles for loss in his collegiate career. Now he's starting to develop the technique to go with that all-out effort.

"He’s a high-motor guy," Patterson said. "He plays with a lot of intensity. I think the biggest thing that’s changed for him, from when I first got him a year ago before he got hurt, is now he has technique. So he’s got technique to go along with the constant motor and the effort that he has. So that’s the thing that’s helped him, through these practices, make a ton of plays. Because he’s taken his effort, his want-to, his desire, and he’s learned technique to go along with it. So to me, I think that’s the biggest thing that impresses me about him. And I think if you talk to any of the players, offense or defense, and you ask them who’s been the most impressive guy out there in practice, I bet you his name would come up a lot."

Even Klint Kubiak, the Vikings' offensive coordinator, has noticed Willekes in practice because of how hard he makes the offensive players work.

"He’s the hardest-playing Jesse out there," Kubiak said. "He loves football. He’s up the field, he’s disrupting plays. He’s got passion for the game. I love the way that guy plays football, and he just brings a lot of energy to our team. He makes it hard on us as an offense, which I always appreciate makes our guys work."

Losing Hunter for the season was a devastating blow for the Vikings. But if Griffen continues his incredible resurgence at age 33, Wonnum shows some improvement, and the Vikings get contributions from players like Willekes and Jones, they might still be able to put plenty of pressure on opposing quarterbacks from the edge.