The NFL Takes Notice of Vikings’ Secret Sauce
Do you ever wonder, over the last few years, how the Minnesota Vikings always seem to sign the most delicious rookies after the NFL Draft?
The NFL Takes Notice of Vikings’ Secret Sauce
It’s not just you. The NFL wonders, too.
Under general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Minnesota has made a habit — the good variety — of rushing to the undrafted free-agent wire minutes after the draft and finding the top undrafted talent.
It’s becoming a tradition with Adofo-Mensah in the saddle, and it nets dividends.
NFL Notices the Vikings’ UDFA Trend
Minnesota “did it again” last month, signing notable UDFAs Logan Brown (OT, Kansas) and Tyler Batty (EDGE, BYU), among 18 others.
Adofo-Mensah’s UDFA success even earned a recent mention from the Pioneer Press.
Charley Walters wrote last weekend: “Word within the NFL is that the Vikings did exceptionally well in signing undrafted free agents and are paying more than in past years. Among signees, ex-Gophers QB Max Brosmer received a guaranteed $246,000 contract plus a $10,000 signing bonus, regardless of whether he makes the 53-player active roster. The NFL first-year minimum salary next season is $840,000.”
“Among 19 other undrafted free agent signed by the Vikings, linebacker Chaz Chambliss from Georgia was guaranteed $220,000; tight end Ben Yurosek from Georgia was guaranteed $254,000; offensive lineman Joe Huber from Wisconsin gets a guaranteed $210,000 plus a $10,000 signing bonus; running back Tre Stewart from Jacksonville State gets a $10,000 signing bonus and $160,000 guaranteed; wide receiver Dontae Fleming from Tulane gets $135,000 guaranteed and a $10,000 signing bonus; safety Mishael Powell from Miami has a $55,000 guaranteed deal and a $5,000 signing bonus, and defensive end Tyler Batty from BYU gets a $25,000 signing bonus and $234,000 guaranteed.”
Onlookers have come to expect a robust UDFA haul from Minnesota, and no year under Adofo-Mensah has disappointed.
Walters added, “Among current Vikings, Ivan Pace Jr., Eric Wilson, Ryan Wright, Dwight McGlothern and Taki Taimani were undrafted free agents.”
The Ivan Pace Jr. Example
The most prominent example of the Vikings’ recent UDFA majesty? Ivan Pace Jr., an off-ball linebacker who was not drafted in 2023.
Most draft heads ranked Pace Jr. as a Round 4 (or so) commodity, but because of his unconventional size — inside linebackers under six feet aren’t desired by general managers — no franchise took a swing on the defender.
But Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings did.
Pace Jr.’s teammates in Minnesota noticed right away in the summer of 2023 that he would become the real deal, and a few months later, the man transformed into a starting linebacker in Brian Flores’ defense.
Minnesota was willing to gamble on his diminutive stature, at least compared to his ILB peers, and it has paid off.
How Do the Vikings Do It?
Back in 2022, when Adofo-Mensah, a newcomer at the time, swiped the top undrafted free agent off the board, Michigan/Wake Forest EDGE Luiji Vilian, it felt like luck.
Yet, after Pace Jr., a pattern developed. Here’s the best theory explaining the Vikings as UDFA kings:
- The franchise spends Top 30 visits on players it knows might fall off the draftboard.
- It pays them handsomely during the post-draft phone call and offer.
Money talks, and having forged the relationship via Top 30 visits in the weeks preceding the draft, the eager rookie signs in Minnesota, almost as a no-brainer.
In that vein, it’s a bit remarkable that only the Vikings have cracked the code.
A Sweet Draft Afterparty for Fans
For full context, Adofo-Mensah has not ranked near the top of the business per drafting talent. His first draft, the 2022 class, totally struck out, and a hefty faction of fans have never forgiven him — and may not. Like ever.
Still, Adofo-Mensah’s draft prowess has markedly improved since the bedraggled 2022 class, and nobody anywhere argues with his UDFA mastery.
Through four draft cycles, Adofo-Mensah’s post-draft knack for signing rookies is so verifiable that fans rub their palms together about the impending UDFA class more than Rounds 6 or 7.
Most Likely to Break Out as a UDFA in 2025?
Projecting undrafted free agents is not an exact science, but if one becomes “this year’s Ivan Pace Jr.,” it will probably be one of these newcomers:
- Tyler Batty (OLB, BYU)
- Silas Bolden (WR, Texas)
- Logan Brown (OL, Kansas)
- Oscar Chapman (P, Auburn)
- Tre Stewart (RB, Jacksonville State)
- Ben Yurosek (TE, Georgia)
Vikings rookie minicamp begins on Friday.
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