Marvin Mitchell Starter At Weak-Side Linebacker; Bishop To Back Up

The Minnesota Vikings signed linebacker Desmond Bishop pretty late in the free agency period, but the consensus from numerous corners. . .including from yours truly. . .was that he would still acquit himself well enough to be one of the Vikings' starters in their 4-3 defense by the start of the regular season.

Apparently that's not the case.

It has been announced that veteran Marvin Mitchell will actually start alongside Chad Greenway and Erin Henderson, with Bishop serving as Mitchell's back-up going into the season opener against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.

"As we speak, Marvin is our starting outside linebacker," Frazier said on Monday, "Desmond did a good job, did enough to make our ball club. We'll see how he progresses as we go forward."

As the article from ESPN's Ben Goessling notes, Mitchell has only played more than 60 snaps in a game once in his career, and I'm guessing that Bishop and Mitchell will both see plenty of snaps early in the season. If Bishop can stay healthy, I have a feeling that he'll overtake Mitchell for the starting role at some point. . .he might even play more snaps before formally taking over that starting spot.

But, at least for the season opener, the first snap on defense will see Desmond Bishop on the sidelines and Marvin Mitchell out on the field.