2. DT Sharrif Floyd -- After the Vikings' loss at Chicago last season, I remember Kevin Williams motioning to Floyd, saying something to the effect of 'You getting both arms up? Can't just keep using one.' As Floyd enters his second year, he won't have Williams' wisdom by his side to advise him on pass deflections. The Vikings have a new three-technique defensive tackle for the first time since 2003 and the burden is on Floyd to produce, even though he played fewer than 40 percent of snaps as a rookie. When Floyd was derailed by a preseason knee injury, the Vikings had to rely on Williams more than they intended in 2013. Now, the fallback is Tom Johnson. As a starter, he'll be asked to play a much larger role -- one that could make him a lot of money. Zimmer designs to his players' strengths, which for Floyd resembles Geno Atkins, who has 26 sacks since 2011 in Cincinnati.
5. CB Josh Robinson -- Robinson is back on the outside after an unpleasant experiment as the nickel corner last season. He's taken the majority of snaps as the third cornerback in nickel packages, as Munnerlyn shifts into the inside, and will be challenged by a crop of young talent for that spot. The Vikings added Derek Cox, drafted Jabari Price and Kendall James and still have the likes of Shaun Prater, Robert Steeples, Marcus Sherels and Julian Posey competing for final roster spots at the position. Robinson is returning from a fractured sternum he suffered in November last season and will be held to a high standard as Zimmer's defense never ranked below 14th in the league in either passing yards or touchdowns allowed in six seasons with Cincinnati.
6. LB Jasper Brinkley -- Brinkley played just 210 snaps last season as he was marred by injuries. Now that he's reunited with the Vikings, Brinkley has been running with the first-team defense as the middle linebacker since he walked back through the doors at Winter Park. He seemed enthusiastic to be playing a different role than his previous campaign in Minnesota, but this time he'll be pressured by young talent in Audie Cole and Michael Mauti. Brinkley started 15 games for Minnesota in 2012 and will have to prove his year in Arizona was an anomaly to avoid another carousel year at middle linebacker. Chad Greenway has also taken snaps in the middle and it'll be interesting to see if/where Brinkley is involved in sub or nickel packages with Greenway and Anthony Barr as options.