There’s a lot of talk on whether or not Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr is worth his new five-year, $67.5 million contract.
And if you look at the stats, you might think not. This is an outside linebacker who has just 13.5 career sacks, 3.0 coming last season.
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says a lot of that is Barr doing the greater good for the team and opening things up for his teammates.
“A lot of that is him sacrificing himself for being able to have other guys be able to be free on rushes and blitzes and things like that. That’s why he’s such an unselfish guy,” Zimmer said Thursday. “We understand that no team that we play is ever going to say, “We’re not going to worry about Anthony Barr.” That’s part of it, and sometimes we do it anyway. That’s just part of it. We’re always going to try and scheme the best way to win on that particular Sunday.”
It’s easy to get caught up in the stats sometimes, but there’s likely some truth to what Zimmer is saying. If other teams are game planning to take Barr out, that’s likely opening something up for somebody else.
