Exiled Viking Shouldn’t Have Been Shown the Door
Before the 2025 season got underway, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah went to work on the trade market.
Young corner Mekhi Blackmon and veteran defensive tackle Harrison Phillips became exiled Vikings. Meanwhile, the 35-year-old receiver Adam Thielen was welcomed back into the mix, a decision that was aimed at reinforcing an injury-thinned pass-catching crew. All of those trades have been aging poorly across six weeks, but the decision to offload Mr. Phillips still creates some specific confusion.
Exiled Viking Harrison Phillips May Have Been Worth Retaining
To be sure, there was some reason to move on from the defensive tackle.
For starters, there was going to be an issue with the starters. All of Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, Jalen Redmond, and Harrison Phillips are worthy of starting in the NFL. Finding enough snaps for a trio is difficult enough in the modern NFL, let alone enough snaps for four. Making the scant playing time even more scant is the presence of Levi Drake Rodriguez and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, both of whom have had some nice moments in 2025.
Consider, as well, that moving out Phillips cleared some much-needed cap space. A dollar saved in 2025 is a dollar that can be rolled over into 2026. Even better is that shipping out Phillips (a DT who journeyed to New York with a 7th in his back pocket) meant bringing a pair of 6th-Round selections back to Minnesota.
Add all of the reasons together.
In trading Harrison Phillips, the Vikings created a scenario where the defensive tackle dam didn’t burst under too much pressure. Dropping someone who demands starting-level snaps created more opportunity for everyone else. Furthermore, the Vikings beefed up their main resources: money and picks. These three factors — more snaps, money, and picks — made the trade worthwhile, at least from the perspective of the late summer.
But while these reasons explain the trade, the reasons may not yet combine to create a persuasive case for the deal being worth it.
So far in 2025, Minnesota’s defense has been playing well. So well, in fact, that Brian Flores sees his group sitting at fifth in the NFL by allowing an average of just 19.4 points against per game. If there has been a shortcoming, it has arrived within the run defense (or lack thereof).
To be sure, part of the problem rests in the injury absences. Not having Harrison Smith for some of the season hurts the run defense. Subtracting Andrew Van Ginkel and Blake Cashman further exacerbated the issue.
There is, perhaps, little surprise that the Vikings’ pair of losses happen to coincide with very poor efforts at shutting down the run.
The worst loss arrived in Week 2 as the Falcons picked up a whopping 218 ground yards. In Week 4, the Steelers eked out a win. D.K. Metcalf torching the defense for a long score may be the lasting memory but do note that Minnesota allowed 131 ground yards.
Might Harrison Phillips have helped?
The 6’3″ and 307-pound defensive tackle isn’t a magical player who would shutdown the run in the same manner that the Williams Wall did not too long ago. He would, nevertheless, be part of the solution. He’s an early-down run stuffer who wins largely due to ruggedness and effort. Dropping him into the Flores group could make the defensive front noticeably better at nullifying the run.
A rotation involving the trio of veteran DTs — Phillips, Allen, and Hargrave — would have made a pile of sense. All would be kept fresher; all would be able to lean on what each does well. Phillips could have chewed up runners while the pair of FA adds could have feasted on passers. Everybody wins, right?
Right now, the 29-year-old Phillips is languishing in New York as a Jet. The AFC team is the lone winless crew in the NFL and the rumors about firing Aaron Glenn are heating up.
Sending Phillips there appeared to be further evidence of the NFL being a very cold workplace, one where loyalty seldom wins out. Hard to accept for some fans and yet part of how the league operates. If getting traded to the Chiefs is akin to landing the corner office with a great skyline view, then getting traded to the Jets is like getting a shabby cubicle set up in the basement beside a clanking furnace. Not an ideal workplace arrangement.
But then factor in the reality, as well, that the Vikings need the run defense to keep improving for the team to achieve its potential. Within that context, the Harrison Phillips subtraction is harder to defend, especially if the ability to defend against the run ends up being an ongoing issue for the 2025 season.
Based purely on football, the best thing that could happen for Harrison Phillips is to get traded away from the Jets, a complete disaster of a team. Maybe a reunion with the Bills — where Phillips began his career — would make sense given that Buffalo is a legit contender but has significant problems defending the run.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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