One Surprise For Vikings to Start the 2026 Season

The Minnesota Vikings have had a very impressive start as they head into their bye week, as they have a record of 5-0. With the great start, there have been things that were expected from the Vikings, but also some surprises in terms of how Minnesota has performed thus far.

On that note, Bleacher Report NFL analyst Kristopher Knox recently named every NFL team's biggest surprise of 2026 entering Week 6, and for the Vikings, that surprise is rookie defensive lineman Levi Drake Rodriguez, who has been solid on the defensive line.

Thus far during the 2026 season, Knox noted Rodriguez has tallied nine tackles, one sack, and five quarterback pressures while playing 58 percent of the defensive snaps and becoming a full-time starter this season after being a great contributor last year.

Standing at 6-2 and 300 pounds, Rodriguez provides a great presence on the interior which is part of the reason that the Vikings have been able to be solid against the run as Minnesota has allowed just 86.6 yards per game on the ground which ranks No. 5 in the NFL.

Additionally, Knox also mentioned the fact that Rodriguez has been able to help this defensive line play very well despite the Vikings moving on from a variety of defensive linemen including Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, and Jonathan Greenard.

Every season there is constant change on every NFL roster and for the Vikings to still be solid on the defensive line speaks to how well Rodriguez has been playing as well as the rest of the Minnesota defensive front and really the defensive unit as a whole.

As mentioned earlier, the Vikings are on their bye week this week and have an opportunity to get rest and heal up as well as make some adjustments on offense, defense, and special teams to hopefully continue the 5-0 start.

Getting back to Rodriguez, following the bye week, the Vikings will be taking on the Indianapolis Colts and running back Jonathan Taylor so Rodriguez will likely have a key role in trying to slow down the rushing attack from the Colts and Taylor in the middle of the defensive line.

With the Vikings being led by defensive coordinator Brian Flores, there is no question that Minnesota will have a great game plan for Taylor which should put Rodriguez and the rest of the defense in a great position to maximize their strengths and potentially limit the impact that Taylor can make during the matchup in Week 7.

So, moving forward, it will be interesting to see if Rodriguez can continue to play well and be productive, and how he and the defense can perform in Week 7 against Taylor and the Colts, because if Minnesota does play well once again, the Vikings will likely win yet again and extend their strong start to 6-0.