You’d be forgiven for forgetting about what happened in 2010 if you’re a Minnesota Vikings fan. When you weren’t hearing about Brett Favre and his member, you were dealing with uncertainty regarding the Head Coach. Then, to top it all off, the stadium roof collapsed.
To say things didn’t go to plan for one of the favorites for the Super Bowl would be an understatement.
Things on the field weren’t much better than they were off it. They badly missed Sidney Rice in the passing game, and Jared Allen looked a shell of himself for large portions of the season. It was such a bad season that we even debated doing one of these articles for Minnesota. But, we racked our brains and found a logical candidate who may not be a superstar in the eyes of anyone but us.
It doesn’t change the fact that Jim Kleinsasser is one heck of a blocker and that’s enough to make him our secret superstar.
Mash, Not Flash
When you think of some of the best tight ends in the league, your mind automatically drifts toward those with piles of receptions … the Antonio Gateses, Vernon Davises and Dallas Clarkses of this worldses. It shows up on the stat sheet and stands out while you’re watching the game. You see the touchdown grab or them getting separation, but what you don’t often see with tight ends is what they can do for a team’s running game.
Case in point, is how much Tennessee missed Alge Crumpler this year. With no elite blocking tight end on the perimeter, Chris Johnson wasn’t given nearly as much to work with and it resulted in a season less than most had hoped for. There were other factors (a decline in the play of David Stewart for one) but the point is, tight ends are there to block just as much as receive.
As a receiver, 39 receptions and four dropped passes in three years says it all for Kleinsasser. He’s not much of a threat in that department, but that’s okay. The Vikings have Visanthe Shiancoe for that (presuming the 2009 version shows up and not the woeful 2010 incarnation.)
As a blocker, though, Kleinsasser is something else.
Professional Protector
A little known secret (that everyone knows) is that the Vikings offensive line just isn’t all that good. Even during their run to the NFC Championship game in 2009, they were making life hard for Adrian Peterson and needed every bit of help they could get. That’s where Kleinsasser came in.
In 2008, he not only had the highest run blocking score for the Vikings, but led all NFL tight ends as well. To boot, he gave up just four total quarterback pressures despite being asked to stay in to pass protect on 97 plays. In 2009, he had dropped to fourth in the league but was the only Viking to have a positive run grade on the year. And again, he was an impressive pass blocker, not giving up a single pressure in 76 chances. The guy can block. Not something you can say about many Vikings.
Then there was 2010. Truth be told, it was one of his weaker years, but he was still the only Viking to grade positively in run blocking. With a strangely dwindling snap count (he had 66 less opportunities to run block,) he just wasn’t able to put in the kind of performances we’d come to expect. The pass protection was still there (two hurries allowed on 113 instances he was left in) but he wasn’t quite as dominant as before. It was all summed-up by his worst display in a long while in Week 17 – it’s not often the big man will go all game without making a single positive block.
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This could be age catching up, or it could be a reflection of the struggles around him; it couldn’t have been easy for any Viking with the circus that followed them all year. If you’re a Viking fan you’ll hope the latter, and there’s no reason to believe that, at 34, Kleinsasser hasn’t got more years left in him at the top of his game.
Perhaps not such a secret, and perhaps not such a superstar, but right now he’s the closest thing the Vikings have and one of the best blocking tight ends in the business.
Maybe the real secret is how valuable that skill set is.
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