Trends in the NFL come and go in a league where 32 teams are always looking to be on the cutting edge of a new winning formula. Some trends stick around, like the last two decades’ increased emphasis on passing. Many more go the way of the Wildcat offense or employing Russell Wilson. The gridiron is a laboratory that validates solid strategies and dismantles flashes in the pan.
Their primary experiment this season is the Trench Trend. As Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said after the draft, “Now the run game’s cool again.”
The Philadelphia Eagles won a Super Bowl using a dominant run game and pass rush from their interior defensive line. The runner-up Kansas City Chiefs had (and retained) Trey Smith, the poster child for the booming price for guards this offseason, with All-Pro tackle Chris Jones on defense. Now, everyone’s trying to catch up to the newest trend.
The NFL had drifted to the edges for years. Wide receivers and offensive tackles have been among the league’s most valuable players. Heck, we stopped using “defensive end” and “outside linebacker” to describe pass rushers and simply label them “EDGE” now. That’s how Adofo-Mensah built the 14-3 Minnesota Vikings, with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Christian Darrisaw, Brian O’Neill, Jonathan Greenard, and Andrew Van Ginkel as the team’s main motors.
It was a great plan — until it wasn’t. Only two teams toppled Minnesota, but their fall in Week 18 and Wild Card Weekend was devastating.
To prevent it from happening again, the Vikings took their vast resources this offseason and poured them into the newest trend. In came guard Will Fries and center Ryan Kelly, who they imported from the Indianapolis Colts in free agency. To round out the group, they spent their first-rounder on Donovan Jackson, another guard. On the defensive side of the ball, Minnesota recruited former Pro Bowl tackles Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave.
With all these moves, the 2025 Vikings are now poised to be the biggest litmus test for the Trench Trend.
Minnesota isn’t the only team to have invested in its interior offensive and defensive lines during the spring. However, there are two key differences between the Vikings and teams like the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, and Dallas Cowboys. The first is the sheer amount of capital they put into those players. Fries had the second-largest AAV of any guard in free agency (second to Aaron Banks), and Kelly had the third-highest AAV of any center this spring. Allen had the second-largest AAV of any free-agent defensive tackle (Milton Williams), and Hargrave was third.
These moves didn’t sacrifice Minnesota’s strength on the edges of the field — the above-mentioned receivers, tackles, and EDGEs are still there. At the same time, these moves came with the opportunity cost of not being able to upgrade a thin cornerback room. The bet is obvious: Going in on the trenches will yield more benefits than investing on the edges.
This brings us to the second huge difference: The Vikings were coming off a year when they looked like Super Bowl contenders. If the Dolphins or Cowboys make the playoffs next year after investing in the middle of the field, that will catch people’s attention. But we just witnessed a 14-win team remake itself on the fly to adapt to the Trench Trend.
We’re not talking about a contender signing a player or two to shore up a weakness. That happens. We’re talking about four premium free agents and a first-round pick, all focused on a very specific part of the field. Add in a trade for Jordan Mason to give them some inside-rushing punch, and it’s hard to think of a 14-win team giving themselves such a specific, focused, and expensive makeover.
That makes for a perfect test for the staying power of the Trench Trend. Suppose the Vikings can turn themselves into a 14-win, passing, sacking juggernaut that dominates in the trenches on their way to a Super Bowl. That will show that the Philly formula is successful and repeatable.
That’s clearly what Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings are banking on. It’s also very possible that Minnesota’s efforts to insulate their new quarterback fail, and their investments in aging defensive linemen fall flat. If that’s the case, it’ll be the highest-profile failure of the Trench Trend so far, and it may lead other GMs to keep investing in those edges.
As we all know, there’s a lot riding on the Vikings’ next season. But it’s not just for the Vikings’ sake. They’re going to be an experiment that may dictate the direction of the league going forward, and that’s another part of why next season will be so fascinating.
