Undrafted Misfits Become Silver and Gold for Vikings
Every Christmas season since 1964, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has popped up on our TV screens. 60 years of sitting down as a family in most homes to watch the outcasts — the misfits come and save the day. Rudolph, with his red nose that got him kicked out of games, and Hermie, who wanted to be a dentist instead of an elf who made toys, so he quit.
The Vikings continue to turn overlooked talent into key contributors, with undrafted players once seen as misfits now carving out vital roles on the 2025 roster.
They went out to make it on their own in a cruel world full of danger. On their travels, they stumble across a land called the Island of Misfit Toys, inhabited by toys that are unwanted by children due to their unusual characteristics or inability to perform their intended functions.
A cowboy that rides an ostrich, a train with square wheels, and a wrongly named Jack-In-The-Box all want the love of a child on Christmas morning. King Moonracer is a flying lion that collects these toys and brings them to the island to live.
The Vikings’ UDFA Tricks Are Turning Heads
They all hope that maybe someday they will get picked up by Santa to be delivered to a child who sees past their flaws. The NFL Draft is widely nicknamed “NFL Christmas” or “Draftmas,” and the joke is that everyone checks off their wish list for the gifts they hope their team will open up over the three days of picking new players.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell have had a great habit of finding players who make the roster as undrafted free agents, as backups, and even starters. There are so many on the roster that the Vikings may have created their own island of players who no one wanted — The Island of Undrafted Free Agents is set right in the middle of US Bank Stadium, and it’s thriving.
While the current regime didn’t draft some of these players, they recognize the value in players who make starting rosters only 20% of the time. The Vikings currently have 17 undrafted players on their starting roster, with their most prominent being Adam Thielen and CJ Ham.
It’s not uncommon to have a practice squad full of undrafted candidates being developed, but the Vikings currently have the most of any team in the NFL, regardless of what year they were drafted. Thielen’s story is well-known far and wide and is repeated on gameday broadcasts so often that you could put it on a football bingo card as a “Free Space.” Ham’s isn’t as well-known, but he similarly entered the league and has remained for 9 years at a position that most teams have phased out of their offense.
They both started by shining on special teams and worked their way up the depth chart to become solid starters in the NFL, earning two Pro Bowl selections each. They are the poster children for undrafted players in the NFL at the moment.
Since Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell arrived, they have scoured the undrafted list and have been rightly praised for selecting the best players available from that pool. Players that many thought would be draft picks but didn’t make that cut for whatever reason.
In 2023, Ivan Pace Jr. was one of those guys who put up big numbers in college but was seen as too short by NFL standards. A misfit. I’m sure many teams tried to sign him, as it didn’t require a draft pick, and if he failed, they could easily release him. The Vikings signed him, and he surprised many by starting week 2 of the 2023 season, tallying 8 tackles and half a sack in a win against the Eagles.
This marked the beginning of league officials and the fanbase taking notice of management’s ability to identify those “misfits” that others overlooked. Andre Carter II was also touted by NFL pundits as a good pickup, along with Ben Sims, a tight end. They hit on Pace, and Carter had some steam early on, while Sims got signed off waivers and has made some noise in Green Bay. NaJee Thompson became a fan favorite as a special teams player who was released this spring after failing his physical due to a knee injury that kept him out of the 2024 season.
Getting some regular-season playing time for these players is good, but it is usually limited to special teams. Getting a bonafide starter out of them is spectacular. Punter Ryan Wright was also signed that year. While it’s not uncommon for punters to be undrafted, the fact remains that he has continued to beat out any competition the team has brought in, including this year, when it looked like Oscar Chapman might take his job.
In 2024, the Vikings’ brain trust dug for more diamonds in the rough by again signing some of the players they thought were the best undrafted talents. Gabriel Murphy was the biggest name considered a player who could ascend to a team’s starting roster and make an impact.
His first year wasn’t very spectacular, and he was outshone by Bo Richter, who got regular-season playing time and solidified his position with great special-teams play. I thought Murphy might not make the team this year. Instead, he came to the field bigger, stronger, and causing so much havoc in the first preseason game that fans thought there was no way they would let him hit the waiver wire.
He did, and the team stashed him on the practice squad for the time being, with Richter making the official roster. The Vikings also signed Dwight McGlothern and Taki Taimani, who made the roster last year. Taimani received a significant amount of playing time last year and is back on the practice squad this year.
McGlothern is now listed as the fourth cornerback on the roster, having shown some shining moments in the preseason and during training camp. Once again, O’Connell has found more weapons from the undrafted pool that fit his and Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores’ schemes. But can you consistently maintain this level of success?
Apparently so. The 2025 undrafted class has seven players who made the roster, with the headliner being Gophers quarterback Max Brosmer. He was a steady presence throughout all three preseason games, playing with a cool demeanor even under pressure.
He outplayed two veteran players, Sam Howell and Bret Rypien, who had fans clamoring for him not to be exposed to the waiver wire of roster cuts after training camp had finished. Ben Yurosek made the squad as the third tight end, and Chaz Chambliss stayed on as an outside linebacker who was everywhere on the field and had solid special teams play. Chambliss and Austin Keys’ play on kicks and punts might be why they made the roster over Murphy.
When the backup linemen were in the game, Joe Huber was part of a group that didn’t allow much pressure up the middle and was very solid in both the run and pass games. He also let some veterans go, with a few joining the practice squad. Myles Price waded through a weak wide receiver group to come out on the other side as the fifth receiver and likely main return man on punts and kicks. He caught a touchdown and had an 81-yard kick return in the preseason.
A player who may have helped make Harrison Phillips a trade option was Elijah Williams, who came on strong, earning praise from the Vikings broadcasters and NFL Network talking head Brian Baldinger, who broke down film of his performances. The Vikings only had five draft picks this year, and four of those also made the initial roster.
Brosmer is viewed by some in the league as a player who could potentially be a starter someday in the same vein that Brock Purdy became the most relevant Mr. Irrelevant in the history of the NFL. Time will tell if that possibility becomes a reality if Bromer continues on an upward trend and gets the opportunity to showcase his skills in a regular season.
If Thielen is Rudolph and Ham is Hermie, both of whom overcame their misfit status to become impactful players, then the Vikings’ ultimate example is Hall of Fame defensive tackle John Randle. He is the Yukon Cornelius of the group, both in his unrelenting drive and lovable personality.
He overcame all the things that teams said made him not worth a draft pick: too light, comes from a small school, didn’t play against great opposition. The hope is that Adofo-Mensah has found impact players at any level to solidify the bottom end of the roster or develop into players that all the experts said they weren’t likely to be. With the heat he takes for some of his early draft classes, he has balanced that out with great free agency acquisitions and finding talent in the undrafted pool of players.
“General Manager Moonracer” will continue to collect undrafted free agents to put on his island, transforming those misfits into presents worth opening.
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