Vikings May Be Forced to Change Offensive Identity Early
The Minnesota Vikings are bleeding wide receivers at a breakneck pace in the lead-up to the 2025 NFL season. That’s certainly not ideal for a head coach who likes to throw the ball. It also doesn’t bode well for young quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
With wide receiver options waning, the Minnesota Vikings could go run-heavy out of the gate, but Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason need help.
One way to flip the script would be to lean on the running game. The offensive line has been revamped to capitalize on that part of the game. It’s also a situation that McCarthy knows well from his National Championship run at Michigan. The problem is that Minnesota may not have the horses to make it work.
Jordan Addison is suspended for the first three games of the season. Rondale Moore is now likely out for the year. Justin Jefferson should be back, but has been nursing a hamstring injury all of training camp. The Vikings absolutely have to get another wide receiver. They could put the focus on the ground game in the interim, however.
Expect the Vikings to Run the Rock More Often Out of the Gate
The only problem there is that Aaron Jones is coming off a career year, both statistically and by health measures. It’s unlikely that he replicates either of those figures this time around. That’s why Minnesota traded for Jordan Mason. The former San Francisco 49ers running back looks like he could be the steal of the offseason, but he can’t do it alone either.
Beyond the top two running backs on the roster, O’Connell may be forced to look somewhere else. Ty Chandler has struggled to substantiate himself as a worthy regular at this level. He was passed over for the second straight season by Cam Akers in 2024. If he makes the roster, which is a very questionable reality, then the expectations can’t be too high.
Undrafted free agent Zavier Scott made the most of his opportunity against the Houston Texans. He turned seven carries into 40 yards and had a long of 12. There were multiple bursts out of the backfield, and he certainly emerged as a player worth watching after the game. That work was done late, though, against backups, and it would be not easy to trust it to immediately look the same during the regular season.
Just like they need to do on the wide receiver front, Minnesota may need to consider where another veteran running back can come from. It’s possible that Jones and Mason could shoulder a bigger workload out of the gate. The problem will be wondering what the fallout may look like down the stretch.
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