Kendricks' improvement isn't lost on Vikings coach

Mankato – Eric Kendricks' NFL rookie of the month honor last October didn't really excite Mike Zimmer.

The Vikings coach said the award should also go to the rest of the defense. Nearly 10 months later, the Vikings are mixing and matching players in the starting defensive line and secondary. An area they appear nearly set is linebacker, where Zimmer recently singled out Kendricks with some high praise.

"He is so much more comfortable at this point than he was a year ago," Zimmer said. "You know last year, he was very — like he had too much coffee to drink. Now he's settled down. I think he feels really comfortable. He's making the calls good. He sees things really good. He's an instinctive guy, anyway."

Kendricks, 24, led the Vikings in tackles as a rookie and is expected to start alongside Anthony Barr as the three-down duo. Making plays like he did Saturday will certainly keep him there. Kendricks flashed that feel for football when he made his best play of the young camp on a leaping interception, robbing Kyle Rudolph of the Teddy Bridgewater pass.

Before he could be touched, Kendricks leapt to his feet and outran Bridgewater to the pylon for a touchdown. He appeared to follow Bridgewater's eyes and made the play.

"That's my goal this year," Kendricks said. "To understand more of what the offense is doing and get a little jump on the reads and be fast to the ball."

While mixing in some decaf, right?

"Sounds about right," Kendricks said. "I'm getting a little more comfortable."

Safety Harrison Smith already has a nickname — Hitman — for the way he doles out punishing blows to opponents.

But if it's possible, he could be doing even more for the Vikings this fall. They rewarded Smith, entering his fifth season, with a five-year contract extension that made him the NFL's highest-paid safety. Months before that June extension, Zimmer said he would like to find the ''right'' kind of safety next to Smith so he can do even more.

"I'm not really sure," Smith said when asked what Zimmer meant by more. "Because — I've said this before — Zim's safeties get to have a lot of fun. We get to be all over the place. So, I don't know what more he could have us do. I'm sure there's more, because he's always creating new stuff. Whatever he dials up, we're all in.''

On Monday, Zimmer said there are more wrinkles of the defense to come. During practice, Smith often could be seen accelerating off the edge on blitz assignments or roaming around the line of scrimmage with Andrew Sendejo and Michael Griffin taking turns back in coverage.

No, the Vikings aren't bringing in punter competition for Jeff Locke. At least not yet.

Coming off a career-low net average of 37.8 yards, the 26-year-old punter has staved off competition so far this offseason. Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer has liked enough of what he has seen from Locke to not advocate for another option after the Vikings tried out two undrafted punters in May.

"We went through the spring hoping Jeff would have a good spring, and he really did," Priefer said. "So we decided that we're just going to go with one right now."

Locke is entering the final year of his rookie contract.

• The Vikings signed linebacker Terrance Plummer for the third time Monday. Plummer, 23, was twice inked to the Vikings practice squad last season. They have one open roster spot.

• Some clarity came Monday to the release of two players over the weekend. Cornerback Keith Baxter was hospitalized and waived with a non-football injury designation, and linebacker Jason Wittingham left the team on his own accord.