5 Breakout Players for the 2025 Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings have two weeks of free agency in the rearview, and by now, onlookers have a decent indicator of how the team will look in 2025.
5 Breakout Players for the 2025 Vikings
Minnesota has notably signed Jonathan Allen (DT), Will Fries (G), Javon Hargrave (DT), Ryan Kelly (C), Jordan Mason (RB, trade), Rondale Moore (WR), Isaiah Rodgers (CB), and Jeff Okudah (CB) in free agency in addition to extending Aaron Jones (RB), Byron Murphy Jr. (CB), Theo Jackson (S), and Harrison Smith (S).
And as the depth chart takes shape, these are five potential breakout players for the 2025 Vikings — players who could emerge to take the next step in their careers. They’re ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = most likely to break out).
5. Michael Jurgens (iOL)
Minnesota selected Jurgens in the 7th Round last April, and most draft picks from that round amount to zilch.
However, this offseason, Minnesota traded Ed Ingram to the Houston Texans and hasn’t re-signed Dalton Risner or Dan Feeney. There’s a world — a small one — where Jurgens performs well this summer at training camp and in the preseason, swiping Blake Brandel’s job. It’s conceivable.
As it stands, too, Jurgens would be the next man up at center and guard if something injury-wise occurred to Will Fries, Ryan Kelly, or Blake Brandel.
He could surprise everybody.
4. Dwight McGlothern (CB)
Another relative long shot, some Vikings fans had big plans for McGlothern last year as he curiously went undrafted.
Well, aside from extending Byron Murphy Jr., Minnesota made no ginormous CB moves that would prevent McGlothern from sniffing an enhanced role. It signed Isaiah Rodgers and Jeff Okudah, men who have not been featured as sturdy starters to date.
With a productive summer, McGlothern could position himself to break out.
3. Mekhi Blackmon (CB)
Mentioned above about Rodgers and Okudah, the Vikings added people at cornerback, but not bonafide starters.
Blackmon fired up a productive rookie season in 2023 before tearing his ACL and canceling his second campaign last summer, and now he could take his career to new heights.
In fact, because Stephon Gilmore and Shaquill Griffin are not currently on the roster, Blackmon might have a starter’s job to lose. It could just be his already.
2. Theo Jackson (S)
Harrison Smith is back for Year No. 14; Camryn Bynum is gone after Year No. 4.
The Vikings might’ve been tempted to sign a safety like Jevon Holland or Talanoa Hufanga in free agency, but they kept it simple and inexpensive, re-upping with Jackson, who has performed well in limited playing time with the purple team.
Barring a draft pick like Georgia safety Malaki Starks, Jackson will start in September, increasing his chances of busting into stardom.
1. Dallas Turner (OLB)
Patrick Jones II no longer works for the Vikings; he’s a Carolina Panther.
Jones II’s exit will clear his reservist snaps out of the way and enable Dallas Turner to assume a hefty role in the Vikings’ 2025 defense.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spent a miniature version of the farm on Turner, and it’s time to hand him all the defensive snaps accordingly. Whenever Brian Flores tossed Turner on the field as a rookie, the man made impact plays.
It’s time for Turner to break out. No ifs, ands, or buts.
In fact, this defensive front should terrorize opposing offense once per week from September to January:
- Dallas Turner
- Javon Hargrave
- Jonathan Allen
- Harrison Phillips
- Andrew Van Ginkel
- Jonathan Greenard
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.