Through three seasons, the Minnesota Vikings have been popularly known as a “pass-first” offense, mainly because of playmakers like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson attached to the depth chart.
Get Ready for a Fundamental Change to the Vikings Offense
Too, the team’s head coach Kevin O’Connell, is a former quarterback, and those men-turned-coaches typically like to rest on their laurels and throw the rock.
O’Connell is no different.
But according to O’Connell’s lips, a change is coming — the Vikings will veer from their pass-happy tendencies, at least per contemporary playcalling.
More Rushing per Kevin O’Connell
O’Connell said this week about his franchise’s pivot to rushing the football: “We’ve thrown the ball at a pretty high clip, like a world class effective clip for three years, with Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold last year. Now, I want to run the football.”
“I want to get back to the truest nature of where the foundation of this offense was, which is running the football and marrying the run and the pass, generating explosives that way and trying to be an effective early down offense that can sustain for 17+ weeks.”
In the last two offseasons, Minnesota has vowed to improve its ground game, though never expressly promised more rushing emphasis. Not like this.
“Every team, every year, you’re reinventing yourself, while staying true to who you want to be, principles and core values. So, we have to restart from the beginning or our entire journey from each year,” O’Connell added.
“But I would say this, I think the things we’ve done in free agency, from the standpoint of the interior offensive and defensive lines; couple that with Aaron Jones being back, and then acquiring a player like Jordan Mason, I think a physicality that I want to play with.”
The RB Personnel
The aforementioned Mason joined the purple team last month after Minnesota sent a 6th-Round pick to San Francisco for his services. The Vikings previously grabbed that draft pick from the Ed Ingram trade — also last month — so Minnesota really just traded Ed Ingram for Jordan Mason.
Moreover, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah extended Aaron Jones’ contract a month ago. He’s back in the saddle for two more seasons. Minnesota has come a long way from handing the RB1 baton to Alexander Mattison in 2023 and calling it good.
Ty Chandler is also on the depth chart as RB3 in March, even if onlookers aren’t sure if he’ll make the 53-man roster in September.
O’Connell’s Rushing Woes
The Vikings’ rushing tendencies have undergone an odyssey since Mike Zimmer left after the 2021 season. With Dalvin Cook in his prime years, Minnesota had no problems whatsoever running the ball, but as soon as O’Connell came aboard three years ago, the rushing efficiency plunged to sixth-worst in the NFL in 2022 and 2023.
It only improved when Jones showed up last year, finishing 20th leaguewide in rushing DVOA.
Pressure Off J.J. McCarthy
Why did the Vikings choose now to emphasize rushing over passing? The one difference on the way is quarterback J.J. McCarthy. In all likelihood, O’Connell wants to take the pressure off his 22-year-0ld passer, and running the ball more equitably might be just what the doctor ordered.
In fact, McCarthy won a National Championship in 2023 with a run-first offense at Michigan. Some naysayers actually believe he can’t handle the pressure of a normal quarterback’s passing workload because he was never really asked to do it at as a Wolverine. That debate will be settled this fall.
A Fundamental Shift for the Vikings
O’Connell called running plays 43% of the time last year, which ranked 18th in the NFL, up 12 spots from his 30th ranking in 2023. Baby steps.
The club ran the ball 37% of all plays in 2023, so the 43% represents a 6% climb. Perhaps O’Connell will nudge the 43% closer to 50%. The Philadelphia Eagles ran 56% of the time last season en route to a Super Bowl triumph.
One More RB?
Adofo-Mensah has just four picks in the draft this month, and most fans ruled out a high-round running back choice when Jordan Mason entered the chat.
But a running back doesn’t have to be ruled out altogether.
Minnesota met with SMU’s Brashard Smith late last month, a man it could scoop in Round 5 or 6. Others, like Bhayshul Tuten of Virginia Tech, could be available in Round 4 or so if Adofo-Mensah trades around the board for more picks.
Jones and Mason should be able to handle the increased rushing assignment in 2025, but if O’Connell is serious about fundamentally changing his style, he should take a flyer on a rookie tailback just to have a youthful option in the pipeline.
No matter what, though, it seems like more rushing attempts are coming to Vikings games near you.
