New Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner is ready to hit the ground running.
After his first Vikings practice on Friday, the start of a three-day rookie minicamp, Turner said he and his fellow rookies are like children tethered to their parents. But Turner, the 17th overall pick out of Alabama, said he isn’t getting antsy yet.
“You ever seen one of those little kids in public and the mom has the backpack leash on them?” Turner said. “It’s kind of like that. The kid want to go run, play, all this stuff, but the mom is like, ‘No, come back over here.’ They’re kind of like easing us into it, but once everybody get here, it’s going to be rocking.”
At this point in the offseason, players can’t wear pads. There’s no full contact. But during meetings and downtime at the team hotel, Turner is already diving into the basic installations of the Vikings playbook under defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Turner said he was pleasantly surprised right away.
“It’s actually crazy,” he said. “In the first defensive meeting, coach Flores kind of orchestrated how the rules and regulations — the same Day One, base stuff — it kind of is the same in college, how we’re one team, one defense, all about the ball, all about tackling, playing physical and fast. All of the same kind of stuff I was used to in college. It’s a very good resemblance between the two.”
Flores and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban have similar temperaments, too.
“You can tell he definitely doesn’t play no games for sure,” Turner said of Flores. “All about business and handling business. I’m about the same thing, too. The energy is just colliding — very good energy, too.”
Turner’s transition is greater than football. After the Vikings drafted him, Turner, a Florida native, spent time with relatives in Miami before arriving in Minnesota this week.
