The Vikings Veterans Facing Their Final Season in Minnesota
The Minnesota Vikings’ first regular season game is about two weeks away, and Vegas believes Kevin O’Connell and Co. will win about eight or nine games.
Several notable Vikings veterans could be entering their last season in the Twin Cities, with looming contracts and roster changes shaping uncertain futures.
The team has welcomed several new starters, especially on defense, in addition to handing the keys to the enterprise to quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Along the way, several Vikings players will encounter their final year in Minnesota, at least on paper per contractual standing. These are those players listed alphabetically.
Note: Players who recently signed one-year deals are omitted.
Vikings Players on Final Year of Contracts
These players are scheduled for swan songs in the Twin Cities.
1. Ty Chandler | RB
Chandler may not make it past roster cuts when the regular season depth chart is revealed next week. If he does, 2025 is his contract’s final year, and nobody anywhere has hinted at an extension.
Expect Chandler to be chopped next week, let alone next offseason.
2. Andrew DePaola | LS
DePaola is the Vikings’ oldest player at 38, but long snappers can play longer than most. This decision will be up to DePaola to return after this season, but for now, 2025 is the last ride.
3. Brian Flores | DC
Perhaps the meatiest on this list, Minnesota’s front office and Flores curiously haven’t locked in an extension. There may be a common understanding that Flores will explore the head coach market with both feet next offseason. If so, the purple team will have been lucky to employ the aggressive defensive coach for three seasons.
Flores also scored a legal victory this summer regarding his lawsuit against the NFL.
SI.com‘s Will Ragatz wrote this month: “Flores sued the league and several teams in February 2022, alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices. Other coaches, including former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks, later joined the class-action lawsuit, which seeks damages and changes to the league’s hiring practices for coaching and executive positions.”
“Flores, after filing the lawsuit, said he knew he was risking his coaching career but believed it would be worth it if the suit could help bring about change. He spent the 2022 season as an assistant under Mike Tomlin with the Pittsburgh Steelers, then was hired by the Vikings as their DC in 2023.”
It feels like a Flores will get an honest-to-goodness shake at head coaching jobs sooner rather than later.
Ragatz added, “At his introductory press conference in Minnesota, he declined to comment when asked about the lawsuit. Flores has since been passed up for head-coaching jobs in each of the last two offseasons. After a 2024 season in which the Vikings had one of the best defenses in the league, Flores interviewed with several teams but was not hired.”
“He’s now in his third season coaching Minnesota’s defense, which enters the 2025 season projected to again be one of the NFL’s best.”
4. C.J. Ham | FB
Ham has been doing this since 2016 — a couple of years into the Mike Zimmer era. Retirement is imminent, the NFL has reduced the emphasis on fullbacks, and Ham has one year left on his contract.
Ham and No. 7 on this list could walk away at the same time.
5. Jalen Nailor | WR
Minnesota drafted Nailor in 2022, one of the only mini-bright spots from a horrid rookie haul that cycle. He’s on deck as Minnesota’s WR3 in 2025, but is nursing a hand injury at the moment.
Like the aforementioned Chandler, there isn’t much steam about an extension, so Nailor could hit free agency next March.
6. Jalen Redmond | DT
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah found Redmond fresh off a stint in the UFL, and he immediately paid dividends. Redmond played so well in a limited sample last season that Adofo-Mensah traded Harrison Phillips this week, enabling Redmond to climb the depth chart for a starter’s job.
He’s one of the best value players on the Vikings’ roster.
A to Z Sports‘ Tyler Forness noted on Redmond a couple of weeks ago: “Redmond was the biggest surprise of the 2024 season for the Vikings. He was signed after the UFL season last summer and him making the roster felt like a pipe dream.”
“That all changed when he dominated throughout the preseason. He’s high on this list for one main reason: consistency in the run game. He took over for Jerry Tillery last season and thrived in the role. He’s much more likely to be in a rotational role this year, but he’s a very solid player.”
7. Harrison Smith | S
Smith announced in March that he would return for year No. 14, crossing paths with J.J. McCarthy for at least one season. He’s certainly not his Pro Bowl self from six or seven years ago, but Smith also never shows flagrant signs of an age-related decline.
So, he keeps coming back year after year.
If he scoffs at retirement next offseason, he’ll need a new one-year contract.
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