Vikings DT Caleb Banks had fascinating debut vs. Giants, appearing to struggle. Here’s what matters and why it’s not worrisome
The Minnesota Vikings’ first-round pick DT Caleb Banks didn’t have the most exciting NFL debut, but it was informative.
There has been a lot of excitement about the Minnesota Vikings‘ NFL Draft class. We’ve seen a lot of positive hype coming out of training camp with a lot of attention being paid to the likes of cornerback Charles Demmings, nose tackle Domonique Orange, and linebacker Jake Golday.
Of all the draft picks the Vikings have had, the least talked about one might be defensive tackle Caleb Banks. Even though he was the 18th overall pick and the Vikings’ only selection in the top-50, he hasn’t been on the field much after healing all offseason from a broken foot suffered at the NFL Scouting Combine.
In his NFL debut against the New York Giants, Banks played 25 snaps, and his performance was not viewed highly across the fanbase. Was it that poor? Let’s talk about the film.
Caleb Banks’ NFL debut was interesting
Let’s get this out of the way: it wasn’t as good as hoped. In those 25 snaps, Banks earned a PFF grade of 30.4, which is nearly 30 points under what they consider an average grade of 60. That isn’t what anyone would consider good, and understanding the why behind it is really important.
In the 25 plays, there were a lot of different elements at play. Within the 25 plays, this is how they break down in terms of result.
| Type | Instances |
| Stood up | 5 |
| Engaged/nothing happens | 5 |
| Pushed back | 4 |
| Contain rush/Gap Filler | 4 |
| Double teamed | 3 |
| Pursuit | 3 |
| Gets penetration | 2 |
| Pushed back | 1 |
| Push forward | 1 |
| Slanted | 1 |
| Gets tackle | 1 |
| Draws a hold | 1 |
| Hump move | 1 |
| Total | 29 |
You’ll notice a lot of negative or net-neutral plays in there, including more results than there were plays. He also was asked to do a lot of different things, plus had to react to other aspects of the play. The biggest factor of the entire game was something that we knew was going to happen frequently: getting stood up due to his size.
This is a big factor to the Banks discussion. He measured in at 6-6 5/8 and 327 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine, which is massive for an interior defensive lineman. He also has 35″ arms, which also creates another issue. When you play on the edge, having that kind of arm length is a huge asset. When you play on the inside, that can create issues with engaging initially against offensive linemen.
Within his 25 snaps, 16 of them are at 3T with two at nose tackle and seven more at 5T. None of those make it easy to maximize the arm length, which is an understandable issue. It’s something I asked him about at the Senior Bowl.
Those size issues were something that we knew would be a work in progress, and it’s not a huge deal that he experienced them in his debut. The key isn’t going to be that he struggled, but rather how he grows over the next weeks and months.
Banks has all the ability in the world to continue to grow within his frame, and defensive coordinator Brian Flores has the tools to develop him. The one thing he’s great at right now is slashing gaps to get penetration.
That will be the key to unlocking his success right away, as it’s hard to keep that pad level low for someone his size. As an individual who is a very similar size to Banks, it’s really hard to get low. That can improve over time, but it’s likely not going to be fully fixed ever, because his size is very rare.
Is that going to be a problem? Not particularly, but you will have some ugly losses in the process. Even with those losses, Banks has the size and length to impact passing lanes, which will do a lot to mitigate those losses. He also knows how to peek and shed well, which comes in handy with two-gapping.
Overall, Banks’ debut may not have been as good as you hoped it would be, but the struggles aren’t nearly as bad as they appear on the surface. He’s right where expectations were at with me, and it’s only going to get better from here.
