4 Things Vikings Territory Got Flat Out Wrong This Offseason
The Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 offseason has all but ended, giving way to training camp last week and now, followed by the preseason next weekend.
From some predictions to snazzy offseason takes that didn’t pan out, here are four things VikingsTerritory got flat-out wrong during the 2025 offseason.
Like any offseason, VikingsTerritory was full of takes and predictions — some that didn’t quite pan out.
So, to hold ourselves accountable, these are the Vikings items we got wrong in the last six months. They’re listed in no particular order.
Our Failed Vikings Predictions from the 2025 Offseason
We were actually happy to be wrong in a couple of places.
1. Drafting a Defensive Tackle from Round 1
A healthy chunk of our writers believed Minnesota would draft a defensive tackle in Round 1, at the time thinking the pick would be Derrick Harmon or Walter Nolen. We assessed the age of the defensive tackles — Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, and Harrison Phillips are all 29 or older — and determined that grabbing Nolen or Harmon for the long haul would make sense.
However, the Vikings focused on the offensive trenches, picking Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson.
Our Round 1 defensive tackle theory was wrong. Minnesota would later pick Georgia DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, a lottery-ticket-type draftee, later in the event.
On Jackson, the 1st-Rounder newcomer guard, head coach Kevin O’Connell said this week, “I think for Donovan, the perfect example would be day to day. So, day one, there was a couple things. That was his first reps of full speed team — we jogged through in the spring. And there was a couple things Kup (Chris Kuper) hit him on, Keith (Carter) hit him on, talking to Ryan Kelly or even CD (Christian Darrisaw) sitting next to him in meetings.”
“And you show back up the next day and he immediately fixes those things, whether it’s fundamental recognition, hand usage, which I thought was really, really, really cool to see because that’s what this position is all about inside.”
We’re not mad about the offensive line priority. Not one iota.
2. Pursuing Cooper Kupp in Free Agency
Kevin O’Connell worked with Cooper Kupp in Los Angeles; the pair won a Super Bowl together in 2021 while Kupp won Offensive Player of the Year. Considering Jordan Addison’s possible suspension, coupled with the fact that Jalen Nailor enters the final year of his contract, we truly believed that Kupp to Minnesota made sense.
And then he signed with the Seattle Seahawks, partnering with former Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, and that was that.
Minnesota would later draft Maryland’s Tai Felton from Round 3, ending the WR mystery. The club wanted an extra wideout, but it wanted a speedy rookie, not an old warhorse like Kupp.
We overestimated the O’Connell + Kupp connection.
3. Getting a Big-Name CB
These CBs were on the free-agent board back in March:
- Paulso Adebo
- Carlton Davis
- Nate Hobbs
- D.J. Reed
- Charvarius Ward
And then these players represented Minnesota’s draft options at corner:
- Trey Amos
- Maxwell Hairston
- Will Johnson
- Benjamin Morrison
- Shavon Revel Jr.
- Azareye’h Thomas
We expected the franchise to come home with one of those names, either from free agency or the draft. Instead, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah signed Isaiah Rodgers, Jeff Okudah, Ambry Thomas, and called it good. Minnesota signed zero big-name corners and drafted zilch.
An L from VikingsTerritory.
4. Underestimating Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s Commitment to Trenches
Websites like this one — and several others — have begged the purple team for over a decade to sign impactful three-technique defensive tackles and invest in offensive guards who are not bargain-bin dudes.
The Vikings never listened. Until this year.
Throughout the offseason, Adofo-Mensah added these starters to the offensive and defensive lines:
- Jonathan Allen (DT)
- Will Fries (G)
- Javon Hargrave (DT)
- Ryan Kelly (C)
- Donovan Jackson (G)
Prayers were answered, and the trenches are suddenly a priority. We expected the team to produce more half-measured or “meh” solutions. They swerved this time — in the best way possible.
Zone Coverage‘s Tony Abbott wrote about the new trenches in June: “Suppose the Vikings can turn themselves into a 14-win, passing, sacking juggernaut that dominates in the trenches on their way to a Super Bowl. That will show that the Philly formula is successful and repeatable. That’s clearly what Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings are banking on.”
“It’s also very possible that Minnesota’s efforts to insulate their new quarterback fail, and their investments in aging defensive linemen fall flat. If that’s the case, it’ll be the highest-profile failure of the Trench Trend so far, and it may lead other GMs to keep investing in those edges.”
The Vikings suddenly have Top OL and DL units, at least on paper.
Abbott concluded, “As we all know, there’s a lot riding on the Vikings’ next season. But it’s not just for the Vikings’ sake. They’re going to be an experiment that may dictate the direction of the league going forward, and that’s another part of why next season will be so fascinating.”
The purple trenches are, alas, stacked.
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