The Vikings — Finally — Did the Thing

It’s taken years. Decades, even.

The Vikings — Finally — Did the Thing

For a generation of Minnesota Vikings fans, a common request surfaced annually after the purple team lost its final game in the regular season or pre-Super-Bowl playoff contest: build the trenches like the other elite teams in the league.

Usually, the Vikings would respond, “Haha. No. Here’s Shamar Stephen at DT for you. And you’re gonna like it.”

One Vikings coach even called Shamar Stephen the best nose tackle in the NFL one time. Stephen didn’t even play nose tackle.

Each offseason, the Vikings would finagle a solution in the trenches that would be considered half-measured at first glance, but by the time training camp rolled around, fans would warm up to the offseason transaction(s) — out of sheer hope and optimism. What else was there?

But after free agency’s first two days in 2025, folks no longer have to rationalize the Vikings’ sort-of plan. It’s the real deal.

In the last two days, Minnesota has signed these players:

• Ryan Kelly (Center)
• Will Fries (Offensive Guard)
• Jonathan Allen (Defensive Tackle)
• Javon Hargrave (Defensive Tackle)

And those names, in the house to fortify the interiors of the trenches, will join respective groups that were already quite productive in 2024. Hell, the Vikings won 14 games last season.

No Vikings fans considered the 2024 trenches miserable or terrible. They did, however, recognize that both groups were exposed when it mattered the most. The Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams bruised and battered the Vikings offensively and defensively — flogged them — so much so that onlookers returned to a familiar slogan: “Build the damn trenches. I can see that from my couch. Why can’t they?”

Well, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah finally did it.

Released from the grip of Kirk Cousins’ large contract(s) and having avoided the temptation to re-sign Sam Darnold for $33 million, Adofo-Mensah embarked on a spending bonanza, almost singularly focused on the trenches — about a month after the Philadephia Eagles clobbered the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs.

How’d the Eagles do that? Easy — they built the damn trenches methodically over the last half-decade. Now, in a copycat league, the Vikings are following suit.

The Vikings have this on tap as their defensive front six — not five — a six:

And the offensive trenches:

Meanwhile, the Vikings haven’t touched the 2025 NFL Draft. Adofo-Mensah refused to trade his 2025 1st-Rounder to the New England Patriots for Drake Maye, so this year, he can truly draft the best player on the board at that spot.

In years past, Vikings fans would muse, “Well, they absolutely need a cornerback, so the pick will be corner.” Then that guy would stink, flame out, or be traded to the Chiefs like Mike Hughes.

The Vikings now have the luxury of picking the best player on draft night. Why? Because it build the damn trenches. They finally get it.

Fans asked for this amid the last decade. Minnesota said “sure” in an hour on a Tuesday.

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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.