Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores indicated during the week that first-round pick Caleb Banks might not play a major role on the defensive line in his NFL debut on Sunday. And by the end of Minnesota’s comeback win over the Green Bay Packers, the only thing less impressive than the rookie DT’s snap count was his overall production.
The statistics, both traditional and advanced metrics, painted about as unkind of a picture of Banks as possible.
“#Vikings DL Caleb Banks played just 16 defensive snaps yesterday, per PFF (Pro Football Focus),” VikingzFanPage posted to X on Monday, September 14. “He didn’t record a stat.”
Also according to PFF, applied only to Vikings defenders who played 15 snaps or more against the Packers, Banks was the third-worst performer on the roster with a player grade of 33.7, per The Purple Persuasion.
Caleb Banks Looked Similarly Unimpressive in Week 1 as He Did During Preseason
Banks’ struggles were not difficult to forecast, though perhaps even his closest observers would not have predicted such an epic flop from the No. 18 overall selection in April.
“Big Citrus really impressing me, but Caleb Banks needs a ton of work and now looks exhausted,” Judd Zulgad of SKOR North posted August 22 after Minnesota’s preseason contest against the Baltimore Ravens. “Banks was used to overpowering O-linemen in college but now is easily being handled and his pad level is way too high.”
Banks admitted following that preseason outing that he was not in game shape, as he battled with a foot injury over the summer that cost him all but three games in his final collegiate season at Florida.
Vikings Defense Can’t Rely All Season on Blitzing to Pressure Opposing QBs
Banks clearly has further work to do in that area if he hopes to play more. However, he will have to produce at a more significant rate in whatever snaps he does get in the immediate future, or his conditioning isn’t going to matter.
Flores keyed up blitz pressure after blitz pressure against Packers quarterback Jordan Love in Week 1, and did so to considerable success in the second half. The Vikings got to the QB enough to force two critical turnovers that aided in a 29-point swing over the last 20 minutes of the game, flipping a 12-point deficit into a 17-point win for Minnesota.
But the Vikings also surrendered 387 passing yards and two TDs to Love, which is the flip side of the coin when blitzing so frequently with limited personnel in the secondary.
The point of Banks is to apply pocket disruption quickly and from the interior. Thus, his development may ultimately prove key to how successful Flores’s defense can be in 2026.
Green Bay came into the season with the 28th-ranked offensive line, per PFF’s assessment, and then had to play without starting left guard Aaron Banks due to a knee injury.
Both Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel, the Vikings’ two primary edge-rushers, had monster games. But Minnesota can’t necessarily bank on the same kind of effectiveness from its traditional outside pass-rushers or its blitzers against better-equipped competition, which is what the unit will see, for the most part, from here on out.
Caleb Banks needs to get better, and he needs to do it fast.
Vikings Get Unsettling Caleb Banks Assessment After Rocky NFL Debut