The 2025 offseason for the Minnesota Vikings confirmed a roster overhaul as the team entered free agency with 22 free agents that left plenty of roster spots to fill. The Vikings gutted and revamped the interior offensive line, added former pro-bowlers to the interior defensive line that come with injury risk, turned to promising but unproven secondary options, and the chef’s kiss of transitioning into the J.J. McCarthy era.
The Vikings executed with conviction and a clear strategy to improve in areas that limited the team’s potential last season while navigating salary cap gymnastics to spend $265.7 million this offseason. Most notably, beefing up the trenches was public enemy #1 for a team that took a page out of the Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles script by seeking to improve its defensive interior pass rush and offensive run game effectiveness.
There is only so much money to go around in a salary cap league so the Vikings will need to rely on cheaper alternatives who will be given opportunities to take the next step in their development progression to become impact players this season.
Who are those players this season? Let’s take a deep dive.
J.J. McCarthy, Quarterback
This is the obvious choice at the most premium position in sports and is one of the national storylines heading into the season with him returning from a torn meniscus that occurred in a preseason game last year that ended his rookie season. He enters his second season as the youngest starting quarterback in the league (22 years old).
So many questions surround McCarthy - which has been the aura of his gravitational pull as the 10th pick in last year’s draft for a Vikings team that is positioned to win-now. Will he stay healthy? Does he have enough arm strength downfield and to the sidelines? Can he make layered throws into tight windows? How effective is he with reading NFL defenses to not disrupt timing of plays?
Two weeks into training camp and one question can be put to bed – McCarthy has a gun for an arm. It seemed like a senseless, national narrative to begin with as McCarthy threw 61 miles per hour at the NFL combine, the third-fastest recorded velocity since 2008. He is proving to make all the throws with ease in camp.
The uncertainty that comes with not being the driving force to a Michigan offense that won the National Championship to missing his rookie season due to injury are warranted. However, reading between the lines suggests he has the moxie – natural leader, swag, intelligence, skill – to be highly productive in a Ferrari offense that just needs him to not crash the car that is coupled with Kevin O’Connell mentorship and play designs.
There undoubtedly will be growing pains but he has all the tools and believe he will surprise naysayers and exceed in a similar way that Sam Darnold did last season given mild expectations. He is also mobile enough to make plays off-script to keep drives alive that aids in his success.
Buckle up Vikings fan, you are in for a treat.
Dallas Turner, Edge Rusher
The former first round pick from the 2024 draft is another obvious choice given the expectations placed with the team paying a hefty price by trading up to get him along with the pedigree of playing at powerhouse Alabama in college. He was a consensus top-10 pick in a draft that saw the first fourteen picks select offensive players before Turner being selected as the third defensive player at pick 17.
Despite some physical limitations with height and weight coming out of college, his athletic profile with speed and explosiveness is elite while having the highest vertical jump (40.5-inches) amongst all edge rushers in the 2024 draft class.
He played in only 302 defensive snaps last season but showed flashes with 12 pressures, three sacks and one interception. Turner was surprisingly good in coverage for an edge rusher that shows his developing versatility and was third in PFF coverage grade (77.5) amongst edge rushers with at least 50 coverage snaps.
Make no mistake though, edge rushers make their money by wreaking havoc on the quarterback and Turner has been all of that so far in training camp. He has an innate ability to bend that manipulates leverage with athleticism to maintain balance and sustain pursuit on the ball. Against the Chicago Bears in Week 15, here is a leading example.
Turner spent the offseason training with Jonathan Greenard and is reaping the rewards early in camp as both have reportedly been constant disruptive forces for a defense that is primed to challenge as the league’s best this season.
Theo Jackson, Safety
In the past offseason, Jackson signed a two-year, $12.615 million extension that keeps him under contract through the 2027 season. A token as commitment from the Vikings in their confidence level about his ability to replace parts of Cam Bynum’s role despite only having 222 career defensive snaps.
Jackson has taken a similar path as Josh Metellus, beginning the career as a special teams ace and evolving into what hopes to be a vital player to this defense. He will platoon a safety group alongside Harrison Smith and Metellus that will allow Metellus to play more to his strength as a rover to enable Jackson to anticipate routes and provide critical support over the top depending on the play design.
Even in limited playing time, Jackson has shown flashes by displaying sharp instincts as a ball-hawking safety that has a nose for the football, and the first two weeks of training camp have been a fitting start to this reputation.
"I always called Jonathan Greenard the closer,” Kevin O'Connell said. “But when he made that play to end practice the other day, people were coming up to me, saying that Theo had already had that nickname, so I gotta find a new one for [Greenard], I guess."
Remember the name Theo Jackson because you should hear it plenty this season.
Isaiah Rodgers, Cornerback
Rodgers was the first free agent to sign in the busy offseason for the Vikings. His modest two-year, $11 million deal will be a bargain as he transitions from Philadelphia Eagles green to the Vikings purple and gold.
One thing that should not be underestimated is that defensive coordinator Brian Flores sought after Rodgers as a match for his defensive system which speaks volumes.
"Isaiah was a guy that Flo really identified pretty early," O’Connell said after the Rodgers signing. "And historically, I haven't been doing this long with Flo, but when Flo kinda has that tone in his voice about guys…he's been pretty darn accurate.”
In four seasons (suspended in 2023 for illegal gambling), he has strong PPF grades (75.7 average) as a rotational player for the Indianapolis Colts his first three seasons then Eagles last season. He has excellent straight-line closing speed with good recovery skills and is an instinctive, fluid athlete with sticky coverage to make plays on the ball to constrict catch space.
He may not have been a headline free agent but has punt and/or kick return upside and is entering his prime. He will have every opportunity to be an impact player as the undisputed No. 2 cornerback behind Byron Murphy, Jr this year.
The Vikings have some aces in the hole, and they are ready to be unleashed in 2025.