Why Vikings DC Brian Flores will love first-round pick Dallas Turner

Tyler Forness

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Why Vikings DC Brian Flores will love first-round pick Dallas Turner image

The Minnesota Vikings selected Alabama EDGE Dallas Turner with the 17th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The move itself sparked some controversy because of how much they gave up to get Turner.

The trade on it's own wasn't an extreme amount of value in giving up picks 23, 167, and third and fourth-round picks in 2025. That, paired with trading their 2025 second-round pick to get the 23rd overall pick leaves the Vikings void of draft capital in 2025 with just a first-round pick, a compensatory third-round pick (projected) and two fifth-round picks. There are ways to get more draft capital (including potential picks from Kirk Cousins' tampering), but it's not a great start.

What the Vikings do have is an edge rusher with a ton of athleticism that pops on tape and in the metrics.

What do the Vikings have in Turner? A player that the Vikings and Brian Flores will love.

Vikings EDGE Dallas Turner will be a Brian Flores favorite

Impressive movement skills

The one thing that matters more than anything with edge rushers is athleticism. When you look at his above relative athletic score, it's evident he's an athletic freak. When you turn on the film, his movement skills pop off immediately. 

This is something that Flores will use in droves. Now, you don't want a player like Turner dropping into coverage often, but Flores loves using deception and aggressiveness in his defense. Having a player like Turner allows you to do some of those things, especially with his pressure packages having 3+ edge rushers on the field.

One of the other elements of his movement skills that are evident is the explosiveness in his movements. He has caught up with running backs down the field and it's impressive to watch.

This is also a trait that coaches will love. Showing that kind of effort is huge when playing defense.

A little too aggressive

Aggressiveness is a really good thing and Turner shows that in droves. The big thing with aggressiveness is that you need to harness that aggression to truly make it work for you. Being that Turner is only 21 years old, there is still a lot of time to help him develop that ability. Right now, he doesn't have it like you'd hope.

He gets into the backfield really quick but overruns the play. Yes, he did force Joe Milton back inside, which is a good play. However, he could make it a great play by controlling himself a little more and getting the tackle for a bigger loss. This next play is another example of not playing under control. There is a good way to approach this and Turner takes a poor angle.

This isn't a "bad play" per se. However, staying a little bit more patient would have set him up to make a play in the backfield.

The big thing with his aggressiveness is that Flores can harness that. As I discuss below, he shows a lot of intelligence in how he plays and that can play a big factor into playing more under control.

Intelligence

If you want to play for Flores, you need to be a smart player. The defense will not only be aggressive but also thrive in multiple facets by taking advantage of different looks the offense gives you. What Turner does is show the ability to adapt and adjust what the defense needs to do based on what the offense shows.

Watch Turner who is in the slot up top. He sees what Tennessee is trying to do and he adjusts the cornerback up top. Turner then crashes the screen pass and attacks the ball carrier. He does a great job in doing so and shows he can harness his aggressiveness. As we mentioned above, he wasn't great at doing so with consistency. Doing it at all is a good sign for the future.

Flashes of brilliance

One of the difficult parts of having a prospect who is raw with a lot of insane tools is you get to see a lot of flashes but rarely is it consistent. That is why things are such a projection with a player like Turner. His power profile is excellent but it's currently only flashes.

Look at the power he generates with his lower half and his hands here. He sends the tackle back to the shadow realm and it's an ability he can generate. 

One of the elements that Flores will love about Turner is using his explosive movement skills with deception. A simple way to do this is by having the defensive front use stunts. Turner has the ability to be an explosive looper on stunts.

Watch how quickly Turner bends the corner and keeps his balance when contact is made. There are a lot of instances with Flores' defense where you attack different gaps than the one you are occupying. Turner has all of the ability to do this with his crazy movement skills.

You also want to see him put moves together, as a lot of what he does relies too heavily on his speed and athleticism. If he can do that at any point, the Vikings may have found themselves a special edge rusher.

Tyler Forness

Tyler Forness Photo

Tyler Forness was previously the managing editor of USA Today's Vikings Wire. His work has been featured on Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Voices of Wrestling, SB Nation, and NBC Sports Edge among others. He is an avid wrestling fan, craft beer connoisseur, and loves the run-n-shoot offense. You can find him on Twitter/X @TheRealForno.