The Vikings may finally be deciding whether to dress Jakobe Thomas for Week 7. The 23-year-old defensive back has been inactive for each of Minnesota's five games before the bye and has yet to play a single regular-season snap.
That is why Vikings Game Today searches have shifted to Thomas now: the club is at a point where a rookie who has not been on the field in the regular season could be part of the answer at safety. Minnesota took him with the 98th overall pick in April, but his start has been delayed by a back injury in training camp and by a string of game-day scratches that have kept him on the sideline since opening day.
The reason the question carries weight is simple. Harrison Smith has been ranked dead last among safeties in the NFL this season on Pro Football Focus, and Josh Metellus has been sixth-worst. The Vikings do not need a theoretical fix. They need bodies who can help now, and Thomas is the rookie they have held back while the veteran group has struggled.
There is at least one reason the staff may believe he can help. In one preseason game against the Broncos after recovering from that back injury, Thomas made five tackles, including three solo tackles. He earned a 79.4 tackling grade in that game, second-best among Vikings defenders, and a 66.0 run defense grade, which ranked seventh-best on the team.
Matt Daniels has said the rookie safety has been asking when he will finally get on the field in a regular-season game, and that question is now pointed straight at Week 7 against the Colts. Thomas is healthy, which leaves the decision where it belongs: whether the Vikings think his first real chance should come now, or whether they are willing to keep waiting on a player they selected to help solve exactly this kind of problem.
