Minnesota Vikings NEED to know: 2025 NFL Season Preview | PFF

Minnesota Vikings NEED to know: 2025 NFL Season Preview | PFF

All right, final uh team preview we got to hear today is the Minnesota Vikings who were amazing last year. The 14 and3 record. Unfortunately, that ended in the wild card round immediately to the Rams, but it was a fantastic year last year for the Minnesota Vikings. Sam Darnold kind of came out of nowhere and was a outstanding quarterback for them with JJ McCarthy going down with an injury. The defense had the fourth best EPA per play in the entire NFL last year, too. So, a terrific, terrific year for the Vikings. And yes, they finished in second place in the NFC North, but they still went 14 and three. It was just that incredible of a division. Uh, last year, we gave their draft a C minus for the Vikings and gave their free agency an A+. So, wasn’t a great draft for the Vikings, but it was an outstanding free agency for the uh for Minnesota as well. What is the biggest strength for Minnesota D in 2025? I mean, part of the reason you you wonder, okay, why did why was Sam Darnold so good last year, right? And why why has Kevin Oonnell been able to to produce with any quarterback that he’s had over the last couple of seasons is that their supporting cast is just ridiculous and it’s only getting better. You talk about Justin Jefferson arguably the best receiver in football. Jordan Addison a really good number two although he’ll be suspended the first three games of the year. TJ Hawinson’s a really good tight end. Jaylen Naylor is the third guy. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason in the back field I think is a really good pair. And then you look at what they’ve done. They already had one of the best tackle duos in football. It’s a little bit like the Bears where they overhauled their their entire interior offensive line. First round pick Donovan Jackson out of Ohio State and then Ryan Kelly and Will Fry coming over both from the Colts at center at right guard. You look at the supporting cast, the environment that JJ McCarthy is coming into that Sam Darnold played with last year that Kevin Oonnell has been building over the last couple of seasons. That’s the biggest reason for hope, right? If there’s going to be a young firstear starting quarterback coming in, he couldn’t be incubated any better than he is with the coach, the play calling, and then the supporting cast that he has on the field. This offense, if McCarthy hits, could be fantastic. Yeah. And you’re hoping he hits, right? Because he’s kind of an unproven quarterback right now. That’s kind of the biggest question mark, I will say. It’s not really a weakness for this team right now, but the biggest question mark is J. McCarthy has only played in one preseason game so far, then obviously got hurt and missed all of his rookie year after that. So Kevin Okonnell really helped out Sam Darnold last year with a lot of play action passes last year should be the same in 2025. JJ McCarthy. So I I have faith in McCarthy as a former first round pick for the Vikings, but there’s always the question mark, okay, can he hit the ground running in what is essentially his rookie year this year. Yeah. No, absolutely. And I think something we went over this earlier in the offseason with a fil with a film breakdown as well is that Okonnell is going to use concepts and he’s going to do things that McCarthy is familiar with from his time at Michigan, especially the playactionheavy schemes. And Sam Darnold, when you look at the difference between him play action and non-playaction, he was one of the best playaction passers in the in the league last year. So, I I think it’s going to be the same type of formula where yes, he’s this is an offense that finds ways to get guys open at a higher rate than anybody else. They’re excellent when it comes to the first 15 plays and the first quarter and scoring in the first quarter, right? That helps a quarterback, those scripted plays. They have an excellent supporting cast. Everything as far as environmentally is there for McCarthy to succeed. Do I think he’s going to be come in and be one of the five best quarterbacks in football? I don’t. But I think he I I do think he has every reason to come in and do his job and be solid. All he has to do is make the throws and run the system the way it should be run. Cuz we’ve seen it not just from Kurt Cousins, but now from Sam Darnold, from Josh Dobs. I mean, guys like Nick Mullen’s out there throwing for 350, 400 over Ke under Kevin Oonnell. He just has a feel for how to run this offense. And McCarthy just needs to go in there and do his job and play his part. We have a we have them as a top 10 receiving core and a top 10 offensive line in the NFL going into next year. Yeah, outstanding supporting cast. And a big reason why the Vikings have a top 10 receiving court is because they have Justin Jefferson, who is arguably the best receiver in the NFL right now over the last five years. So, it was really his first five years in the NFL. 93.6 receiving grade and he has a 2.64 war, which is the best among all receivers. 88 receiving grade last year was a career low for him. Usually an 88 is like one of the best in the NFL. That was a career low for Justin Jefferson. So he is outstanding. He’s easily easily a top two or three receiver in the NFL. You can make a great argument he’s number one too. And yes, a brand new quarterback in JJ McCarthy, but when you’re throwing a number 18 out there, you’re uh you’re set up to succeed. I I mean, five years in and on his way to being one of the all-time greats really. as long as they I mean it’s it feels like even if they don’t fully figure out this quarterback situation and he never plays with an elite quarterback, he is just unbelievably consistent. You mentioned it when an 88 receiving grade through five years is the lowest one you have. I mean, you’re on your way to just doing special things in your career. Justin Jefferson, look at JJ, if there’s one bit of advice we have, when in doubt, throw it to number 18. He’s going to find a way to get open and haul it in. I mean, he’s just one of the most consistently elite players we have in the league. Just for reference, an 88 receiving grid that he had last year was still eighth in the NFL. So, still a top 10 receiver at his worst. And that was the lowest he’s had. Yeah, that was by far his worst season. And he was still in a top 10 receiver easily in the NFL, too. Don, who was the star defensive player for the Vikings? You know, one of the more interesting set of transactions last year in free agency was Denil Hunter going from Minnesota to Houston and Jonathan Grard going from Houston to Minnesota. And I would argue that Hunter was obviously more proven than uh Grinard was throughout his career. But Grard comes over as that traditional 4-3 defensive end and he was just spectacular last year. If you include the postseason, he had 84 pressures. The only two players that had more including playoffs was Jared Verse and Chris Jones on the inside. The third most pressures of any defensive lineman in the NFL, a 90.8 true pass rushing grade. So, in obvious pass rushing situations, right, Brian Flores didn’t have to blitz. He’s a heavy blitzer, but he didn’t have to blitz all the time because he had Grenard up front. That that 90.8 true pass rush grade, the sixth best among edge defenders in the NFL. Very quietly, I think, one of the best edge players in the league last year. And a great deal when you considering what they’re paying him compared to what a lot of the top guys get now in that 35 to40 million range. Jonathan Grenard, Andrew Van Ginkle, don’t forget Dallas Turner, their first round pick last year. This is a dangerous edge group that if Brian Flores does any given day want to drop back in coverage and just let them pin their ears back, he can do that. He’s got a lot of options, but it starts to me with Grenard and all of the pressure that he generates. Yeah, and I can’t wait to watch obviously him on that defensive line. And a guy you go against in practice a good amount is Donovan Jackson, the rookie to watch here who was kind of surprising pick in the first round considering everyone thought the Vikings offensive line was already really good. And they got another great player in uh Donovan Jackson there. He was a top uh he was a Donovan Jackson was the only top 100 pick they had in the NFL draft. So not a lot of picks they made in the NFL draft but he’s a very very good player at Ohio State. So, he played left tackle a little bit for Ohio State last year, even though he’s mostly a guard in his career because of injuries last year to Josh Simmons. Made him play off of tackle. And he was one of the biggest reasons why Ohio State won the national title last year because he brought stability to that offensive line that really needed it. He only allowed two sacks all of last season. And those two were against Abdul Carter, number three overall pick, and what was Donovan Jackson’s first game playing left tackle. So, it was incredible to watch him kind of be that elite player at left tackle for them last year after being an elite left guard for them, too. And he’s probably going to play guard for the Vikings, but he has a tackle flexibility that if Darasol goes down with an injury or Brian O’Neal goes down with an injury, too, he could step in and fill in the shoes at at tackle, too. But Donovan Jackson, big fan of his game. And he’s a big reason why the Vikings have one of the best offensive lines in the league. It’s a great call, too, with Christian Darasaw coming back from the knee injury. That’s one of the biggest factors this year for their offense. I mean, he’s one of the best left tackles in football. But if for any reason he was late coming back, or if he aggravated something, you could reasonably move Jackson out there if you needed to. But no, I I think, you know, and they tried to trade out of that spot, that number 24 spot, cuz it’s it was their only top 100 pick. But if you’re not able to trade out of it, then get yourself a solid starter. I think, you know, maybe we thought it was a little high for Jackson, but if you’re going to get a bonafide starter, I think that’s what we both believe Donovan Jackson is going to be. Again, I think you know, you fill out that last spot, they already got Will Fry and Ryan Kelly in free agency. You’ve got the tackle duo. Fill out that fifth spot on the offensive line. The interior had been a problem for Minnesota. First several years, and my favorite, actually, you mentioned part of it there. My favorite Jackson stat from the last two years. He’s given up three sacks the last two years, right? Two of them were to Abdul Carter while he was playing left tackle, and the third one from 2023 was against Mason Graham. Yeah, fair enough. These are the types of players that had that you needed to win against Donovan Jackson while he was at Ohio State. So, if nothing else, I mean, you drafted, I think, a very stable presence who’s going to go in there and fit right in. So, the Vikings, their best bet of the year, according to Ben Lindseay on DraftKings, is to make the playoffs at only minus 110 right now. So, a team that went 14 and three last year is minus 110 to just make the playoffs in uh 2025. So yeah, McCarthy is an unknown right now, but very talented roster, was a rising star at head coach, it feels like, and Kevin Okcono is quickly becoming one of the best head coaches in the NFL. Like I said, a 14- win season last year. They really helped out the trenches on both sides this year, too, in the offseason. I I like that bet a lot for Minnesota. Is only minus 110 to make the playoffs after winning 14 games last year. I mean, if you’re in on that bet, let’s make it simple, right? They won 14 games last year. Do we feel like they’re one of the seven most talented teams in the NFC? I would say so. The quarterback is the big question. Anytime quarterback’s your big question. That’s a thing. But last year, quarterback was their big question. They won 14 games with Sam Darnold. If you believe JJ McCarthy can play something close near what Sam Darn, how Sam Darnold played last year and just do his job within this system and allow the rest of the playmakers to do what they do, then you believe the Vikings can make the playoffs. You don’t even have to pick them to win the division. You talk about them being just one of the seven best out of the 16 in the NFC. I mean, you just chalk it up right now. I think they’re better than Dallas. I think they’re better than New York right now. I’d still put them ahead of the Bears until the Bears prove something, right? Then you have Saints and Panthers. That’s already five. And then there’s a couple of teams I would take them over Seattle. You you’re you really get to there’s a lot of outcomes here where this could happen. All they have to do is be one of the seven best there. Even if they don’t win this division, I absolutely think they can do that as long as McCarthy does his job. He doesn’t, again, he doesn’t have to be a top five quarter. He may not even need to be a top 10 quarterback. Darnold last year was somewhere between, let’s say, the 10th and 13th best quarterback in the league. If McCarthy’s even top 16 or 17, this team could make the playoffs. So, it ties right into the bottom line because they’re over under is nine and a half right now. And I’ll say right now, I’m going over because you look at what Kevin Oonnell’s done in his three years as a Vikings head coach. Year one, 13-4, won the NFC North. Year two, they went seven and 10, but Kirk Cousins missed nine games that year with an torn Achilles. So, obviously, you had Josh Dobs playing quarterback for a lot of the games last year. It’s understandable why they went seven and 10 that year. But then this past year, 14 and three, right? So, in two of the three years, they’ve had 13 wins or more. So, I I think it’s certainly feasible they’re going to do that again uh in 2025 or at least, you know, win 10 or 11 games in 2025. I think over nine and a half is a bet I’m absolutely making. I I mean it just goes to show you the depth that you have in this division when the team that won five games last year and is still projected to finish last has an overunder of eight and a half, right? That that’s nine and a half. N is the Bears are at nine and a half. No, the uh the Vikings now are at 9 and but it just shows you that I mean that means the books think there’s a legitimate chance that all four of these teams could finish with a winning record this year. So if that’s the case, then yes, it’s the best division in football. Again, it’s the most wide openen division. The Vikings. Would it shock me at all if they were first? Absolutely not. Look at the amount of talent they have. Would it shock me at all in this division if they were in fourth place? Not at all. Because you maybe them more than anybody along maybe with the Bears. You question their quarterback situation, right? This this division might be the most fun to watch in the entire league because you just don’t know which way this is going. I again, I think there’s a road for all four teams to win it. It’s going to be extremely competitive. The head-to-head matchups are going to be so much. I I I just can’t wait for it to watch these four teams play football, especially Especially if the Bears have made up that gap towards the other three teams. It’s going to be ridiculous. But the Vikings absolutely, as long as McCarthy doesn’t completely falter this season in his first year as a starter, they should absolutely be in a playoff race and in a division race. Yeah, if he’s not, you know, if he really struggles next year, then yeah, they could miss the playoffs and maybe go below 500. But I just I don’t see that happening with the supporting cast they have there. And Kevin Okcono is a play caller, too. just I think they’ll go over nine and a half and win 10 or 11 games, maybe even more than that, and be once again one of the top teams in the NFC. Here’s a question. Here’s the fun. Maybe maybe Ben’s got to search this for us. Is there a bet out there somewhere with odds that all four of these teams make the playoffs? I I I would want to know what that if if and what that looks like. Now, I know it would take some real mathematical stuff to happen there, obviously, especially in the East with both Philly and Washington and out west with some of the teams they have out there, but uh is there I wonder if there’s a bet out there that has some I’m getting Hold on. Maybe I can get uh I can get props in that real quick. Maybe I could do a parlay and see what the odds would be on that. Oh, okay. You could build that real Okay, you could build it. That makes all four teams to make the playoffs. I would I wonder what that would look like. That would be That’d be interesting. I think it’s I think it’s certainly possible. I I think, you know, I it’d be hard. It would be very hard considering they all play each other and would all beat up on each other. But I do think that um you know, all four teams have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs next year. I think it’s the best division in football right now. Uh you can get basically all four for plus 1230 would be the odds. Plus 1230. That’s actually not that might not be as that’s I don’t think that’s as long as about right a little over 12 to one. I think I don’t think that’s as that’s as high as I thought it would be. Oh, that’s interesting. Just with the math that goes into that with you would you would then you’re sitting there talking about Washington has to miss the playoffs. You’re only getting one out west of what some let’s say San Fran and Arizona miss out Atlanta whoever else. I mean it would certainly take a lot of the the math to start mathing there. But I I was just curious on the odds. I’m like what are because we have yet to have that in this format yet to have all four have it. I wonder you wonder if there is just a minuscule case for that to happen with the series. Because I guess the Lions are – 185, the Packers are – 135, the Vikings are – 110, the Bears are plus 160. So the worst team in the division is the Bears at plus 160, which is still like almost even odds. That’s insane. That’s probably still what maybe ninth or 10th in the NFC. I I would I would guess. I mean, that’s just It just shows you again the potential of all four of these teams. It’s crazy.

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick highlight everything you should be paying attention to with the Vikings, heading into the 2025 NFL Season!

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