5 Things Learned about the Vikings at NFL Combine
Eight days remain until the beginning of free agency, and the 2025 NFL Combine is winding down in Indianapolis.
5 Things Learned about the Vikings at NFL Combine
The event lasted almost a week, and the Vikings have the 24th pick in the draft, so all eyes focused in that direction for the last several days.
So, here’s what was learned in relation to the Vikings. The items are ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = most important).
5. Ashton Jeanty at Least Somewhat on the Radar
Minnesota met with Jeanty, this class’ top tailback, at the NFL Combine. The Draft Network’s Ryan Fowler tweeted as such on Tuesday as the NFL Combine got underway.
In all likelihood, the Vikings are merely doing their due diligence, as Jeanty will not fall to pick No. 24. But if he slid to pick No. 17, for example, perhaps general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah could trade up the board for him.
4. Christian Darrisaw + J.J. McCarthy Recovery Updates
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said at the Combine that Darrisaw was “doing really well in his rehab” after tearing his ACL last October.
Darrisaw missed the season’s remainder, and the Vikings later traded for offensive tackle Cam Robinson to stop the bleeding. O’Connell also proclaimed, “He’s absolutely killing it every step of the way.”
O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah also confirmed that J.J. McCarthy’s meniscus recovery is completely on track, with all signs pointing to spring activities as his go-live date.
3. iOL Replacements … Not Guaranteed
A media member at the NFL Combine asked O’Connell if he’d follow through with his commitment to replace interior offensive linemen this offseason after his team allowed 9 sacks to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wildcard Round. O’Connell immediately shot down all “replacement” theories.
“The ‘replace’ word — I don’t know if I necessarily used that. It was more of an emphasis on how we need to play,” he replied.
The young skipper then shifted to Darrisaw’s ACL recovery, evidence that he believed Darrisaw’s injury absence killed Minnesota in the playoffs.
While Minnesota could obviously sign or draft some new interior offensive linemen, O’Connell isn’t utterly fixated on replacements. The solutions could be internal.
2. Continued QB Mystery
O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah this week very explicitly avoided endorsing a quarterback plan for 2025. In fact, the duo complimented all passers in their roster orbit, including J.J. McCarthy, Sam Darnold, and Daniel Jones.
“I was telling my staff if I could have thought of a brain teaser, of an experiment to think through, that would have been a pretty tough one where, Pro Bowl quarterback, win all those games and then lose to two teams twice. And so that was really kind of the core of our offseason, really thinking through that holistically, trying not to be overweighted by those eight quarters, but not to underweigh those last two games,” Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said about the oddity of his team losing to the same teams four times with Darnold at the helm.
O’Connell mentioned about his quarterback strategy: “We’re evaluating the short-term and long-term aspects of it. It’s still early in the offseason process.”
And he said about Darnold: “I’ve had great dialogue with Sam from the time the season ended up until very, very recently. Sam is in a position where the NFL thinks he can play football at a very high level. We’ll see where it goes.”
Darnold’s immediate fate remains a mystery, with free agency eight days away.
1. Interior DL Help on the Way
Courtesy of Adofo-Mensah’s comments on Tuesday, one longstanding Vikings dream will come true, assuming the young executive wasn’t exaggerating — Minnesota will sign or draft a splashy defensive tackle.
“To play January football, there’s a certain way you’ve got to play. You’ve got to be able to control the ball, and be able to get after the passer with just four. We need to get better and will,” the Vikings boss told reporters.
The defensive line’s edges are all set for the long term (Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Dallas Turner), so Adofo-Mensah just has to mean DT with those comments. DT is the Vikings’ only DL weak spot.
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 MIN 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.
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