Vikings Pass Rush This Season Should Be among Best in Team History
Vikings Hall of Fame Coach Bud Grant was a wise man and made a lot of profound statements. One of my favorites was when he was asked what’s most important to him, and he answered: a great wife and family, a good dog, an excellent quarterback, and a strong fourth-quarter pass rush.
Former Vikings GM Jeff Diamond examines how the Vikings pass rush could be one for the ages.
Between Fran Tarkenton and the Purple People Eaters on the defensive line, he had items three and four on his list nailed for many years during the Vikings’ dominance in the 60s and 70s.
Vikings Pass Rush Has Ferocious Upside
As I ponder the strengths of the 2025 Vikings, I think the pass rush and the wide receiver corps are tops on the list, and the Vikings hope J.J. McCarthy quickly establishes quarterback as another team strength.
Looking at the pass rush in particular, the team is coming off a 14-win 2024 season in which Jonathan Greenard (12 sacks) and Andrew Van Ginkel (11.5 sacks) were elite pass rushers who both made the Pro Bowl. The Vikings ranked fourth in sacks with 49, and the pass rush was a key factor in the team’s 24 interceptions that led the league.
First-round edge Dallas Turner had only three sacks as a rookie with limited play time, while Pat Jones (seven sacks last season) saw more action. With Jones now in Carolina and Turner having had a year to get stronger and fine-tune his play in Flores’ system, the 22-year-old is expected to take on a much bigger role and is likely to play with Greenard and Van Ginkel at times, along with relieving them.
Players often make a big leap in Year 2, and I expect Turner to have at least eight sacks this season. He could easily hit double digits in a season where he justifies his lofty draft status and the extra picks the team traded away to move up and pick him at No. 17 overall.
The Vikings also had good sack production and pressures last season from inside linebackers Blake Cashman (4.5 sacks) and Ivan Pace (three sacks). However, there was very limited pass-rushing help from the interior defensive line, with only four total sacks (two by Harrison Phillips, who led that group).
That led to a concerted effort by the Vikings to upgrade the interior pass rusher group via the expensive free agent signings of former Pro Bowl DTs Jonathan Allen (42 career sacks in eight seasons) and Javon Hargrave (45.5 career sacks in nine seasons).
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores is excited about the additions of Allen and Hargrave, and he also spoke highly at the team’s recent minicamp about the development and potential of four younger defensive linemen — Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake Rodriguez, Taki Taimani, and this year’s fifth-rounder, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins.
Whoever among the youngsters makes the final roster (which could be all of them) will be part of the rotation with Phillips, Allen, and Hargrave.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who have played. There’s a good amount of depth in that room,” Flores said. “We’re excited about all the pieces. And as coaches, it’s just who fits where.”
Between the stout group of edge rushers, the upgraded interior D-linemen, and the blitzers Flores loves to send after the QB regularly, it all should translate into one of the NFL’s best pass rushing groups and even better than last season when they were a top-five group.
That should spell big trouble for all quarterbacks on the Vikings’ 2025 schedule including NFC North QBs Jared Goff in Detroit (with issues on his offensive line after Frank Ragnow’s retirement and Kevin Zeitler’s free agent departure), Jordan Love of the Packers, and Caleb Williams with the Bears (who was sacked a league-high 68 times in his rookie season last year forcing the Bears to go heavy in free agency to upgrade the O-line).
The Vikings would like nothing better than for their 2025 pass rush to fare favorably with the team’s best groups.
I’m thinking of that great front four of Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, and Gary Larsen (and later Doug Sutherland) in the 1960s and 1970s. And the D-line, led by Chris Doleman, Keith Millard, Henry Thomas, and John Randle, in the 1980s and early 1990s. Randle continued to lead the charge in the mid to late 1990s for a bunch of Vikings playoff teams. Then, Jared Allen and Kevin Williams led the way for great production in the early 2000s.
In my 20-plus years working for the Vikings, I saw almost all those players up close as they were a huge part of so many division champs and Super Bowl contenders.
It will not surprise me if the 2025 Vikings pass rush produces 50-plus sacks as a key part of a team that is in the running for the NFC North title and becomes a Super Bowl contender. And that this year’s pass rush joins the conversation for the most productive Vikings pass rushes in team history.
Around the NFL Observations
It’s now the quiet time of year in the NFL as players and coaches are on vacation for a few weeks before training camp opens around July 21 for most teams, including the Vikings.
But guess who can never stay quiet — the NFL’s biggest egomaniac, Aaron Rodgers. In an ESPN interview this week, he made headlines as usual by saying he thinks this may be his final NFL season at 41 years old.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is it,” Rodgers said. “I’m going to give the Steelers everything that I got and empty the tank.”
Then he added this beauty of a statement: “I don’t want the attention. When this is all done, you won’t see me. I don’t want to live a public life.”
Sure, Aaron. If you want to avoid the spotlight, why are you doing interviews in late June when the rest of the NFL players are on hiatus? We can only hope 2025 is indeed his last season, and then he disappears as he promises to do. But that’s highly doubtful for someone like him who absolutely craves the attention.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl
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