Middle linebacker is the most difficult linebacker position to prepare for and play in the Vikings' Tampa-2 scheme.
That's according to linebackers coach Fred Pagac, 2006 starting middle linebacker Napoleon Harris, 2007 starting middle linebacker E.J. Henderson and a lot of other people, too.
"Every position in football has its quirks and things that make it different," said Chad Greenway, the Vikings' starting weak-side linebacker. "But let's just say I'm happy I'm playing my position and not E.J.'s."
Greenway is essentially the reason Harris lined up against the Vikings on Friday night in Mankato as the starting middle linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. He will do it again tonight in River Falls, Wis., as the teams conclude their home-and-home practice sessions.
"I think going into last season, because of the coaching change to coach [Brad] Childress, the Vikings didn't know exactly what they had in me," Harris said. "From me coming in the previous year in the trade with Oakland, and then playing hurt [in 2005], they really didn't know. But I knew. Coach Pagac coached me in Oakland, so he knew, too. But they still went ahead and drafted Chad Greenway in the first round."
Greenway missed last season because of a knee injury, enabling Harris and Henderson to play side by side. Harris, however, became the odd man out when the Vikings gave Henderson a five-year, $25 million contract extension.
"How did Napoleon play?" Pagac asked. "If you look at the run stats, we almost set an NFL record. Napoleon played great. I didn't want to lose him."
But such is life in the fast-moving NFL. Henderson has training camp and four preseason games to finish getting comfortable in the middle.
"I'm pretty comfortable right now," Henderson said. "But I think it's going to take a game to see the speed of it. Even a regular-season game, to see the regular-season speed of it. To see how I have to do it."
Henderson played middle linebacker at Maryland. And he started his pro career as a middle linebacker. So he's used to making the calls, positioning the front seven and reading both sides of the offense as opposed to only the weak side. Then again, this is his first crack at playing middle linebacker in a Tampa-2 scheme.
"As a linebacker, it's so much different than what you're used to," Greenway said. "In the Tampa-2 -- or Cover-2 -- reads, that guy in the middle a lot of times is making his drop steps while looking for that vertical threat down the field. That's just not a natural thing for a linebacker to be doing."
One of Henderson's strengths is his speed. And that might be the No. 1 of many ingredients needed to play the position well.
"In order for this defense to be successful, the middle linebacker is going to be asked to run with wide receivers down the middle of the field," Harris said. "Everybody has to play their position. And if that receiver is running free down the middle of the field, everything breaks down.
"I don't think that will happen to the Vikings this year. E.J. is going to do fine. I think he's one of the up-and-coming stars at linebacker in this league."
Pagac, who is still a loyal Harris fan, agrees.
"He's capable mentally and physically of doing everything that I've asked him to do," Pagac said. "Napoleon played great for us, but I see us having the same success with E.J."
Mark Craig • mcraig@startribune.com
vikings/nfl
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