Offense 

The first thing that stuck out to me when looking over this Vikings offense is just how top heavy they are. The OL room really lacks any options if one of the starters goes down and the RB room while again talented at the top is shaky after the top two backs and the thing that concerns me most with these positions specifically is there are guys in each of these groups that have had a real and concerning history of injuries. 

At RB you have a 30yr old Aaron Jones who didn’t miss a game last season but struggled and has struggled throughout his entire career with some smaller/minor injuries that have either held him out of games in the past or like last season, limited his snap count/effectiveness within a game here and there. They did a good job of adding a really reliable back this offseason in Jordan Mason to pair with Jones and while Mason has been healthy for the most part throughout his career we did see him struggle last season with some injuries as his workload increased. He had a sprained AC joint in October of last season that didn’t hold him out but had his availability day to day and later on in December he suffered a high ankle sprain (against the Vikings) that landed him on IR and in turn missed the final 5 games. While I really enjoy this duo of players (Jones and Mason) and I think they will add a really dynamic pairing out of the backfield to this offense having only Ty Chandler to step in for either of them if they were to go down isn’t ideal for me. What bothers me most here is this offseason we had one of the best RB classes in the draft in many years and for something as cheap as a 6th or 7th round draft pick you could added a cheap quality back that would have added so much security to this room.

Along the OL you have a very limited selection of depth pieces here and considering the injury history that Christian Darrisaw (coming off a Torn ACL and MCL in his left knee) has and the fact Will Fries is coming off of a Fractured Right Tibia just last season is a bit concerning to me. While Justin Skule and Blake Brandel are solid as “puzzle piece” options along the OL I don’t feel all that comfortable putting them in place of Darrisaw or Fries and getting that great of results and none of the other guys depth wise give me all that much hope either. While I love the starting five here (Christian Darrisaw, Donovan Jackson (OU), Ryan Kelly, Will Fires, Brian O’Neill)I just can’t get behind the fact that your LT and best player here along the OL in Darrisaw has real injury concerns, you have your new RG coming of a Fractured Tibia, and you have a 32yr old C in Ryan Kelly that has had concussions in his past along with neck, knee, and foot injuries that have held him to only playing one full season since 2020, including missing 7 games last year, and you only add Justin Skule as depth this offseason. 

Now while I wouldn’t say this team has the deepest TE and WR rooms I do think they have enough depth to not make a huge deal out of. The starters with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor, and TJ Hockenson (Josh Oliver as well) are awesome and the depth they have behind them all are at the very least adequate. Adding Rondale Moore is a solid signing and gives them another guy to get the ball in the hands of and make a play but Tai Felton (Maryland), their 3rd round pick this past year, fits that mold even more so. The question I have is why they felt the need to draft a WR that high this year. You have Addison and Nailor who both take up the role Felton would realistically fill for your your team and using virtually a top 100 pick, 102 to be exact, on a WR4 when you have needs elsewhere is strange to me. I really like Felton and it’s no slight to him at all I just wonder if they’re planning on moving on from Addison due to off the field issues or if they don’t view Nailor as a long term piece and are looking to get ahead of having to replace him this offseason. Either way I don’t hate the pick it just felt a bit high for WR when there were some players I felt would have been a bigger help to them not just this year but long term at bigger positions of need.

Now this is where the conversation really starts and ends for the Vikings as far as how successful they can be, this year especially. JJ McCarthy really holds the keys to what the Vikings will look like this year and well at any point moving forward as well. I thought McCarthy was easily worth the pick they used on him last year and while that doesn’t mean he’ll 100% succeed in the league by any means I think he has all the tools he needs to do so and having the support system of Kevin O’Connell, Justin Jefferson, TJ Hockenson, and the rest of this talented Vikings team will only help. It’s obviously a wait and see considering we’ve only seen a flash of him playing in the preseason before his injury but I wouldn’t bet against him, especially with this support system built around him. 

Defense 

The defense really starts with what they get out of this front seven and the pass rush specifically in my opinion. With how often we see Brian Flores be creative with different blitzes including sending seven or eight guys at a time it’s easy to get caught up and forget that the reasons those blitzes work so well is because of the guys they have up front. We can talk about how you can scheme pressure and Brian Flores is absolutely one of the best defensive minds going at doing that but you can’t just send any eight guys and count on them to overwhelm teams constantly, teams are too smart and prepared for that to work, you need talent as well and that’s exactly what the Vikings have built here. They may not be the highest profile guys or be true elite pass rushers but when you combine Andrew Van Ginkel, Johnathan Greenard, Dallas Turner, Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace Jr, and Harrison Phillips on your front seven with the scheming of Brian Flores that’s where you start to build something truly special. You then look at the additions they made with Javon Hargrave and Johnathan Allen through FA and then one of the most athletically gifted IDLs in this class with Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (Georgia) through the draft and all the sudden you have a whole other group that can effect the game that you didn’t have last year with guys like Jerry Tillery and  Johnathan Bullard. This front seven paired with the coaching of Brian Flores is one of the most unique and talented groups in the league and I’m not sure how you’re supposed to game plan or prepare for them. This group can and will take over games for them this year.

The secondary on the other hand is certainly talented but once again, like I talked about with the OL and RB rooms, lacking in depth. Retaining Byron Murphy Jr was huge because he allows them so much flexibility in the secondary since he can play on or off the ball on top of playing outside or in the slot for them but the rest of the secondary is a little questionable to me. Josh Metellus is certainly a good player and fits this scheme perfectly but you’re counting on a Sgroup of Metellus and 36yr old Harrison Smith with really only Jay Ward behind them and after the loss of Cam Bynum to the Colts they didn’t really make a effort to replace him, leaving a lack of depth and future for the position. At CB you’ve got Murphy Jr who is a really solid CB for them but outside of him you’re counting Mekhi Blackmon and Isaiah Rodgers to step and hold their own. I like Blackmon and I think he has a lot of talent but he hasn’t put it together fully in my opinion and while Rodgers was a really promising CB for the Colts early on in his career he lost a entire season due to gambling and then was rotational CB for the Eagles last season. Behind them you have Jeff Okudah who in my opinion should try playing S and hasn’t worked out over three separate teams in 5 years as a former top 3 pick and a solid special teams player in Tavierre Thomas. I trust Flores to coach these guys up and scheme up enough pressure to cover up some of their flaws but I wouldn’t personally feel comfortable with this group going into the season. 

Overview

• This Vikings team has a one of the best coaching staffs in the league and a roster that has an unbelievable amount of talent as well. While I wish they had built up some more depth through the draft or made some FA signings that filled out the roster more throughout the past few years it’s hard to argue with their ability to get the best out of players and keep this moving despite any injuries or lack of depth in spots. They have all the talent and coaching they need to make a playoff push and even make a run deep into them as well, it really just comes down to health and what JJ McCarthy gives them this year. There’s certainly some pause for me if they’ll have a season as successful as last year but there’s also a world where this team puts it all together and makes a run for the NFC.