Getty Images

The Vikings made defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson their biggest defensive acquisition of the offseason and the reason for their interest in Richardson isn’t just about the plays he can make on the interior of their line.

It is also about what he can do to help defensive ends Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter. The two players combined for 20 sacks last season and the Vikings would like to see how productive they can be if they aren’t facing regular double teams from opposing blockers.

Defensive coordinator George Edwards believes Richardson’s ability to win one-on-one battles can make that happen.

“Hopefully, we can get him in some one-on-one situations with the personnel that we have,” Edwards said to Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on Sirius XM NFL Radio. “A lot of times, we’re starting to face where they’re concerned about our defensive ends Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter, where they’ll double them a lot of times, and they’ll end up singling us inside sometimes. So we want to, hopefully with his skill set, be able to take advantage of teams that want to try to do that and, hopefully, pull some of those double teams off our ends in critical situations like third down and those types of deals.”

Minnesota had the league’s stingiest defense in the regular season in terms of both yards and points last season. If Richardson has the kind of impact that they hope to see this season, a similar finish may be in the cards for the Vikings.