The Jealousy List for Vikings Is Huge
The Minnesota Vikings made several impactful decisions during the offseason, allowing players to depart and try their luck elsewhere. Well, through 12 weeks of the 2025 regular season, many of those players are performing quite well.
The jealousy list for the Vikings is quite large, with multiple former players thriving elsewhere and sparking fresh frustration about lost talent.
In a normal season, an NFL team might have one or two cases of “the one that got away.” But the 2025 Vikings have about half a dozen.
They Left the Vikings, and They Thrived
A who’s who of ex-Vikings currently standing off the page.
Camryn Bynum (S)
Indianapolis Colts
Bynum is basically playing at the same level in Indianapolis as he did in his final season in Minnesota, logging a 71.4 Pro Football Focus grade and ranking 22nd in the NFL among 94 qualifying safeties. He’s banked a couple of interceptions, forced a fumble, and has a 92.9 passer rating against with his team.
The Colts are also 8-3 through 12 weeks, with a one-game lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bynum is a staple of Indianapolis’ secondary, one of the NFL’s most talented groups, especially after the trade for Sauce Gardner earlier this month.
The Vikings, meanwhile, are sixth-worst in takeaways after finishing second-best in the same metric a season ago when Bynum patrolled the purple secondary. Bynum signed a four-year, $60 million deal with the Colts in the offseason, and while that contract was probably too large for Minnesota’s budget, he has outperformed Theo Jackson and Josh Metellus this season, the two men showcased more now that Bynum plays elsewhere.
Sam Darnold (QB)
Seattle Seahawks
Darnold’s Seahawks — the Vikings will play them this Sunday — have a 7-4 record, firmly on track to reach the postseason, so long as Darnold doesn’t collapse sooner in 2025 than he did last year.
On pace for about 4,300 passing yards and 29 touchdowns, Darnold has continued his 2024 production, establishing himself as a franchise quarterback, even if Seattle will have to wait until the postseason to see if his playoff demons are longstanding.
Darnold will face Vikings rookie quarterback Max Brosmer this week, unless J.J. McCarthy exits the NFL’s concussion protocol sooner than most expect.
Ed Ingram (G)
Houston Texans
Ingram owns a 77.4 Pro Football Focus grade, which ranks seventh-best in the NFL through 12 weeks. He’s a better run-blocker than pass protector, but Ingram did not perform anywhere near as well in Minnesota as he is in Houston right now.
The Vikings — for some reason — could not unlock Ingram through three seasons, but the man has had no qualms turning the corner in Houston. Minnesota shipped Ingram to that squad for a 6th-Round pick, and Texans fans believe their team emphatically won the trade after Vikings loyalists spent months laughing at the Texans for accepting the trade in the first place.
Ingram is a Top 10 guard in the NFL by the numbers.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said about his offensive line last week, “Our offensive line, I wanted to recognize them with a game ball because they did a great job. We knew we needed to control the line of scrimmage. I thought we ran the ball okay, but most importantly, we protected the quarterback.”
“We didn’t allow any sacks on the quarterback. Only allowed one tackle for loss. Overall, for that unit to come together and play the way they played on a short week, hats off to those guys. Cole is doing a great with those guys. We got Ed back, moved Tytus over. Still a lot of moving pieces and the guys still played really well together.”
Daniel Jones (QB)
Indianapolis Colts
Jones has cooled off substantially as of late after starting the 2025 season white-hot, mainly because the Colts’ schedule turned the corner after playing easy opponents.
The ex-Viking is on pace for 4,389 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes, and 11 picks. His team’s fans are growing leery of his recent downturn, but Indianapolis remains 8-3 after 12 weeks, on track for the playoffs so long as the Jacksonville Jaguars don’t catch them.
Harrison Phillips (DT)
New York Jets
Fansided‘s Justin Fried best described Phillips’ 2025 campaign this week in a tweet: “Since Week 6, Harrison Phillips has PFF’s highest run defense grade (80.2) among all qualified interior DL (min. 51 run defense snaps). Phillips hasn’t been credited with a missed tackle since Week 1 and has 11 run stops in his last 5 games.”
“Also playing through a foot injury that was serious enough to have landed him in a walking boot. Heck of a find for the Jets. Should be a Week 1 starter in 2026.”
The Jets stink, but Phillips unsurprisingly does not.
Nahshon Wright (CB)
Chicago Bears
Remember Duke Shelley in 2022 for the Vikings? Wright is basically playing like that for the upstart Bears this season.
He’s accountable for a 74.9 passer rating against and leads the NFL in interceptions with 5.
In Minnesota, Brian Flores treated Wright like a fringe practice squad commodity. In fact, when general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah traded Andrew Booth in the summer of 2024, he received Wright from the Dallas Cowboys in return.
Unless Wright turns out to be a one-hit wonder, the Cowboys and Vikings missed the boat on Wright’s defensive implementation. He has the moxie for a CB3 job, at worst.
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