The Vikings Roster Needs Are 3-Fold

Dustin Baker   |  

Feb 19, 2025

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The Minnesota Vikings are three weeks away from free agency and nine away from the 2025 NFL Draft.

Vikings Roster Needs: The Big 3

The offseason is here, highlighted by head coach Kevin O’Connell’s multi-year extension so far, along with Brian Flores’ presumptive return to his defensive coordinator post after striking out in the NFL’s head coaching carousel.

And with a Super Bowl window cracking open, assuming quarterback J.J. McCarthy is the real deal, these are the Vikings’ three primary roster needs, ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = top need).

A simple rule of thumb? Minnesota probably needs several new players for each position listed below.

3. Interior Defensive Line

Harrison Phillips, Jalen Redmond, Taki Taimani, and Levi Drake Rodriguez are under contract next season — and then that’s it for playable DTs. No one else. The Philadelphia Eagles provided a blueprint 10 days ago of how to pester a dynastic football team en route to a Super Bowl.

From free agency or the draft, the Vikings should add another defensive tackle, the spot currently manned by Jerry Tillery. Vikings fans request this every offseason and usually end up with a Shamar Stephen or Jonathan Bullard. Perhaps the purple front office will finally splash for an impact interior defensive lineman.

The 24th pick, currently owned by Minnesota, could be a prime spot for this roster need.

2. Interior Offensive Line

Although Sam Darnold held the football way too long in the pocket against the Lions and Rams, the offensive line’s interior did him no favors.

Identifying iOL woes was glaringly obvious, but O’Connell made sure to call out the trenches. “There’s no question that we got to be able to find a way to give a quarterback time. Especially with players like Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, we got to find a way to solidify the interior of the pocket, starting first and foremost,” O’Connell told reporters after Monday’s loss.

Interior offensive line tribulation has been a frequent scourge of Vikings football … for about a decade.

O’Connell added, “There can be a thousand excuses made. But, for me, it’s the foundation of the interior of the pocket that we’re going to have to take a long look at.”

Fixes are coming.

1. Cornerback

Mekhi Blackmon and Dwight McGlothern are the CB solutions on the books, at least per possible playing time, right now for 2025, so, yes, cornerback is the top offseason need.

Pro Bowler Byron Murphy may return, which is fantastic, but adding one more impact corner will be vital if Minnesota has Super Bowl visions in 2025 and beyond.

The franchise is painfully overdue to nail a CB draft pick from Round 1 or 2. That last somewhat successful example occurred 10 years ago — Trae Waynes.

It’s worth noting that Adofo-Mensah has about $60 million in cap space to rectify all positions.

Also Read:
4 Ways the Vikings QB Drama Could Play Out

Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL. 

All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.