The Very Best Players on the Vikings’ 2025 Roster
At the start of every summer, VikingsTerritory profiles and ranks the best players on the team’s roster.
It’s that time. There are the Vikings’ best players on the roster at the moment, with the regular season 15 weeks away.
You can read last year’s here.
The list will change throughout the 2025 regular season — players improve and regress — but here’s the pecking order with the 2025 campaign about 3.5 months away.
No. 1 = best player.
8. Will Fries (G)
Before breaking his leg with the Indianapolis Colts in 2024, Fries banked an outstanding 86.9 Pro Football Focus grade. He parlayed that performance into an $88 million contract over five years with the Vikings. His 2025 outlook will be about sustainability in Minnesota, but his emergence with the Indianapolis Colts suggested he’s on track to be one of the best guards in the NFL.
He could climb this list in no time.
7. Blake Cashman (LB)
A do-everything linebacker for the Vikings, Cashman continued his career breakout in Minnesota last season. In fact, when Cashman got hurt, Minnesota began losing games — and started winning again when he returned to the lineup.
Cashman doesn’t have many weaknesses and tabulated a 71.6 PFF mark in his first season with the Vikings.
6. Byron Murphy Jr. (CB)
Murphy Jr. earned his first Pro Bowl trip in 2024 and deservedly so. He also channeled his sweet season into a fancy new contract, grabbing three more years and $54 million.
The Vikings don’t employ too many standout corners, but Murphy Jr. is their version, and he’s still just 27.
5. Andrew Van Ginkel (OLB)
Van Ginkel did everything for the 2024 Vikings: interceptions, pick-sixes, sacks, forced fumbles, pass coverage, tackles for loss, and general defensive playmaking.
Like Murphy Jr., Minnesota rewarded him with an extension, adding an extra year and $23 million. He’ll be attached to the Vikings’ roster through the end of 2026.
4. Brian O’Neill (RT)
As sturdy and dependable as they come, O’Neill enters Year No. 8 this season and will start at right tackle. By now, O’Neill is a two-time Pro Bowler, playing 110 games for the franchise since 2018.
He could also be a candidate for another contract extension before too long.
3. Jonathan Greenard (OLB)
The Vikings basically and unofficially swapped Danielle Hunter for Jonathan Greenard last year, and the two men, for afar, played close to identically.
The sweet perk of Greenard — and Hunter — is that he need not come off the field in certain situations. He can stop the run and sack the quarterback. Some EDGE rushers are one-trick ponies at rushing passers. Not Greenard.
He’s scheduled to be on the depth chart for three more seasons.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said about Greenard late last season, “The underrated part is just the all-down aspect of the physicality, setting edges, playing blocks and making some plays at or behind the line of scrimmage that set up his chances to then rush the passer. He’s played a ton.
“We’re trying to be aware of just how much he’s played and see if we can give him some spurts here and there where we can kind of keep his play count where we want it, but at the same time, he’s one of our best players. As I like to call him, he’s the closer.”
2. Christian Darrisaw (LT)
Darrisaw tore his ACL last October in Los Angeles, but before that, he was on his way to his first-ever Pro Bowl selection. The franchise cornerstone left tackle doesn’t really have “bad games” and is one of the league’s best offensive tackles.
He’s 25, and fans will watch his injury recovery intently this summer. His ACL repair timeline should put him back in the saddle sometime early in the regular season, if not Week 1.
1. Justin Jefferson (WR)
Jefferson leads nearly every wide receiver stat metric since turning pro in 2020 and is at the top of all WR debates, usually involving himself and Ja’Marr Chase.
He’s the gold standard at wide receiver, not needing too many seasons before fans can start preaching a Hall of Fame climax to his career.
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