The Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Roster Trend is in Play for 2025
Every year, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah sends major money to the edge rusher position when picking up UDFA talent. Every year, at least one of those UDFA edge rushers makes the team.
In 2022, Canadian Luiji Vilain got onto the squad. In 2023, Andre Carter II was the edge rusher to earn a spot before moving on. Last year, things were a touch different insofar as Gabriel Murphy (injury) and Bo Richter (practice squad) had to wait a bit, but they nevertheless found their way to the 53-man roster. Does the trend continue into 2025?
The Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Trend at Edge Rusher
First, some basic details about the GM’s approach among the undrafted talent.
The team again dipped into undrafted free agency with fistfuls of cash. Plenty got spent to bring in reasonably promising talent. Unsurprisingly, the largest pot of guaranteed money went to an edge rusher, something that has become pretty normal for Mr. Adofo-Mensah.
Tyler Batty, a mammoth pass rusher who comes in at 6’5″ and 271 pounds, is joining the Vikings after a promising college career at BYU. He demanded $259,000 in guaranteed money, the highest amount for the undrafted players.
He played in thirteen games last season. Along the way, Batty earned 59 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, and 2 passes defended. PFF gave him a healthy 78.5 grade, good for 108th among the 868 edge rushers under consideration. Working against him is that he’s 26.
And then there’s Chaz Chambliss, someone who put in work for Georgia (a college powerhouse).
His season involved playing in fourteen games. He earned 40 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 1 fumble recovery. PFF tossed over an 80.9 grade for his efforts, a number that placed Chambliss at 72nd among edge rushers. Standing at 6’1″ and weighing 242 pounds, Chambliss landed a deal that has $220,000 baked in as guaranteed money.
Do Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings make room on the roster for one of these edge rushers?
Brian Flores is going to be giving no shortage of work to Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel. Each veteran put together excellent seasons in 2024, earning Defensive Player of the Year votes while each was named to the Pro Bowl. After those two is Dallas Turner, someone who is going to step into plenty of vacated snaps.
The competition then gets pretty interesting. Richter and Murphy both return after earning a bit of NFL experience as rookies. Clearly, each has supporters among Minnesota’s leadership. The trend is present, though, when it comes to keeping undrafted edge talent. Does one of the sophomore options get squeezed out?
If things continue on the same trajectory, then at least one of the UDFA edge rushers — Tyler Batty and/or Chaz Chambliss — will get onto the team.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, Sports Reference CFB, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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