Fans and media saw a different side of Kevin O’Connell after the Los Angeles Rams eliminated the Minnesota Vikings last year. The Vikings had just lost to the Rams by a score of 27-9. For the second consecutive week, Sam Darnold appeared overwhelmed by the moment.
But Darnold wasn’t the source of O’Connell’s most direct criticism since taking over as head coach in 2022. Bothered by the nine sacks surrendered by the offense, O’Connell called out the interior offensive line.
“There’s no question that we got to be able to find a way to give a quarterback [time],” O’Connell said. “Especially with players like Jordan [Addison], Justin [Jefferson], T.J. [Hockenson], we got to find a way to solidify the interior of the pocket, starting first and foremost.”
Minnesota’s starting guard-center-guard combination in that game was Blake Brandel, Garrett Bradbury, and Dalton Risner. The Vikings didn’t retain Bradbury or Risner in free agency. Brandel was under contract, and some pointed to his struggles beginning when left tackle Christian Darrisaw was lost for the season with a torn ACL.
To replace them, Minnesota aggressively targeted guard Will Fries and center Ryan Kelly, who had spent the previous four seasons as teammates with the Indianapolis Colts. Adding them improved the interior, but the Vikings weren’t done.
They signed tackle Justin Skule, who started 12 games his first two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and 17 overall, as insurance at left tackle in case Darrisaw wasn’t ready Week 1.
Then, in the draft, the Vikings didn’t bank on Brandel returning to his early-season form when he played next to Darrisaw. They drafted Donovan Jackson with the 24th-overall pick to be their Day 1 starter at left guard.
The starting line was set, as well as insurance in case Darrisaw couldn’t start the season. Still, the Vikings continued to fortify the position group. After three seasons of finding regular gameday contributors in undrafted free agency, the Vikings sought out the top offensive line prospects available in this year’s class.
Minnesota signed Kansas tackle Logan Brown, Thor Nystrom’s 97th-ranked prospect entering the draft, and Wisconsin guard Joe Huber, Thor’s 302nd-ranked prospect. For perspective, 257 players were selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.
However, the Vikings also needed to fortify their defensive line. Two years ago, they had great returns on free-agent edge rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel, who combined for 23.5 sacks and both made the Pro Bowl.
Still, the interior line was poor against the pass, as no one in the position group had a pressure rate over 5.5% (Greenard had a 13.4% rate and Van Ginkel had a 12.7% rate, for comparison’s sake).
While the Vikings were securing Fries and Kelly, they were also beefing up the defensive line. They signed Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, two longtime veterans who have each earned a pair of Pro Bowls. Allen has never had a pressure rate under 8.5%, and Hargrave’s 14.3% rate is the highest among all interior defensive linemen since 2021.
This would have been sufficient in the public’s eyes, and perhaps even throughout the front office. But the Vikings stayed aggressive. In the fifth round of the draft, they selected Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, who had average production at Georgia but possessed rare athleticism and position flexibility. His 9.79 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) ranked 44th out of 2022 defensive tackles since 1987.
Interestingly, the Vikings didn’t add any interior defensive linemen in the first wave of undrafted free agency. That isn’t to say they missed out or did anything wrong by not adding anyone. It more so highlights their intentionality of signing Brown and Huber, as well as center Zeke Corrall, on the offensive side.
However, they did sign two tryout players who participated in rookie minicamp. One of those players was Elijah Williams, a defensive lineman from Morgan State who notched 11 sacks in 12 games in 2024.
By all accounts, Minnesota’s additions have performed well throughout the offseason and into training camp and preseason. We haven’t seen much of the starting offensive line in real action because they played just one series in the first preseason game.
Still, of Minnesota’s top 10-rated offensive players on PFF, six are linemen. Huber is ranked second overall on offense with an 82.8 grade on 122 snaps. Second-year center Michael Jurgens has a 72.2 grade on 87 snaps.
On defense, no Vikings player has a higher grade than Williams’ 81.4. He’s registered seven pressures and has even drawn the eye of NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger.
Ingram-Dawkins’ grade is 60 on 57 snaps, but he has splashed some in the preseason. He mixed in with the first-team defense during joint practices with the Tennessee Titans.
With Ingram-Dawkins earning the trust of the coaching staff, as well as Williams’ play getting shared on social media, it was beginning to look like the Vikings may eventually have to cut a really good defensive lineman.
Jalen Redmond’s spot on the roster appeared secure given his increased playing time and production late in 2024. And coaches had been praising Levi Drake Rodriguez, a seventh-round pick in 2024, for his play during camp.
But instead of cutting one of the younger players, the Vikings traded Harrison Phillips, who had been with the team since 2022. Phillips had been a solid player in the middle of the defense, but more importantly, was a locker room leader.
Perhaps partially because of the depth and youth on defense, as well as a way to clear cap space for a receiver, they deemed Phillips expendable. That was after three seasons in which he was arguably Minnesota’s only reliable full-time contributor on the interior defensive line.
Now, the Vikings may be facing a similar dilemma on offense. Their starting five players are set. Skule is great insurance. Brandel is versatile and can start if needed.
But is there room for Huber and Brown? The Vikings will almost certainly keep Jurgens as their second center. That’s already nine, and that’s not including Walter Rouse, a sixth-round pick in 2024, whose 78.5 PFF grade is fourth on offense.
All of a sudden, the Vikings aren’t searching for bodies to fill spots. They are figuring out who they can keep, knowing that exposing promising players to waivers in hopes of signing them to the practice squad could allow another team to snipe them.
It’s a far cry from the old days when the Vikings were signing Charlie Johnson one month ahead of the season to protect Donovan McNabb and Christian Ponder’s blind sides. This isn’t 2016 when Minnesota signed Andre Smith and Alex Boone, only to lose Smith for the season with injury. Boone struggled in 14 games and was cut a year later, again restarting the offensive line carousel.
Instead, the Vikings weren’t crossing a need off the checklist by DIY’ing it or calling the cheapest handyman to mask the problem temporarily. They were bringing in a team of professionals to address and fix the problem, as well as provide maintenance to minimize disasters (i.e., injuries that could derail the operation).
Not long ago, Minnesota’s offensive and defensive lines were yearly headaches that the front office tried to patch together with quick fixes. Now, they’ve flipped the script. Both groups have gone from weaknesses to strengths, and the challenge isn’t finding bodies to fill spots — it’s deciding which capable players they’re willing to risk losing. For once, the Vikings’ roster crunch in the trenches is about having too many options, not too few.
