Out of Left Field Vikings Addition Generating Plenty of Hope in Twin Cities
For some, the Vikings addition at linebacker in the 2025 NFL Draft came out of left field (an opinion I don’t fully share).
Consider, for instance, a quick thought from The Athletic’s Alec Lewis: “Vikings are taking Penn State LB Kobe King with No. 201. Was projected much earlier by many. Did Vikings need linebacker? No. But an incredible character guy who is violent against run. Very nice depth piece.”
Again, there’s a bit of disagreement between Lewis and I — the Vikings’ need at linebacker is present, I believe — but a takeaway could be that going linebacker was somewhat unforeseen, especially since the team didn’t draft a corner or safety (two spots that were often mocked to Minnesota).
In Mr. King, the Vikings have a linebacker who is inspiring optimism, especially since the opportunity to add him came as a surprise to even Minnesota’s front office.
New Vikings Addition Kobe King
Safe to say that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah believes that the new linebacker has a high ceiling. In fact, the GM believes that the 6th-Round pick could be a starter someday.
The GM’s thoughts: “Really excited to add him. A lot of times in football, we make it harder than it is, but it’s a meat and potatoes game at some positions, and linebacker is one of ’em […] He’s somebody that plays with range, tackles, he’s a really physical knock back, impact tackler.” Adofo-Mensah then refers to him as “potentially [being] a starter one day in this league” while also praising his on-field communication, suggesting that King is an intelligent player who processes the game well.
Dustin Baker is among those who think that the King addition means that last year’s LB4 Brian Asamoah is now facing an uphill battle. The words from Adofo-Mensah do little the dampen the enthusiasm for the new addition, seemingly confirming the tough test ahead of Asamoah.
The argument against drafting a linebacker is fairly straightforward.
At the top of the position are a pair of players who won’t be dislodged from their starting spots: Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace Jr. Mr. Cashman is sticking around for at least two more seasons (at least per his contract) and Mr. Pace will be an RFA following the season, giving the Vikings the inside track to keep him around for a little while.
Plus, Eric Wilson got brought back to Minnesota on a pretty good deal, one that’s sitting at $2.6 million. The total may not sound like much, but it’s a fair bit higher than what Kamu Grugier-Hill — last year’s LB3 — made last season: $1,377,500. So, we’re talking about the new LB3 almost doubling the salary for the past LB3.
Making snaps even more scarce is the simple fact that Brian Flores happens to have a creative mind and a collection of players capable of bringing the creativity to life. Need edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel — freshly-signed, I hasten to add — to play off-ball linebacker? No problem. So, too, can do-it-all safety Josh Metellus hang out in the box with regularity. Harrison Smith, as well.
The broader roster context didn’t deter the Vikings from opting for Kobe King, who played his college ball at Penn State. Last year, the defender piled up 97 tackles, 3 sacks, 9 tackles for loss, and 1 pass defended. In consecutive seasons, PFF handed the linebacker a grade that’s inching toward the mid-80s, suggesting he played some high-level football.
Give the final word back to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the architect of the roster and the one who makes the final call on picking players.
“Our scouts do an incredible job, they’ve known who Kobe was for a long time” the GM said. There was then a mention of “starter potential” for Kobe King while clarifying that picking up him so late didn’t seem likely. Notably, King didn’t think he should be drafted so late, as well: “There’s no way he’ll be there […] Sometimes you get lucky. But you pick up the phone, and you talk to somebody, and you hear it in their voice that they also don’t think that they should have been there. That gets you pretty fired up.”
Kobe King likely should have gone higher. He didn’t, allowing the Vikings to draft a ‘backer who could be a starter someday. The leaves the GM “pretty fired up” about the recent Vikings addition.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and Bluesky (@VikingsGazette). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.
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