The Unsung Hero of the Vikings’ 2025 Season Gets National Shout Out
The Minnesota Vikings featured a handful of under-the-radar performers in 2025, and according to NFL.com, linebacker Eric Wilson took the cake. Kevin Patra identified an “unsung hero” from each NFL team this week, and for Minnesota, the veteran linebacker got the call.
Wilson’s comeback changed the Vikings’ defense in 2025, and now fans want him back for a sequel in 2026.
The label makes sense as Wilson inserted himself into the starting lineup this season and never relinquished his job.
Wilson’s 2025 Surge Changed Minnesota’s Defense
Wilson deserves all the kudos when analyzing the 2025 campaign.
Unsung Hero for Vikings? It’s Wilson
If one asked a Vikings fan on the street to pick out the club’s hidden gem from 2025, most would pick Wilson or defensive tackle Jalen Redmond.
Patra green-lit Wilson for his piece and explained, “Wilson struggled in coverage, but when he was moving forward, oh baby, did he have a massive impact on Brian Flores’ defense. Seemingly every game, Wilson made a splash play, generating 6.5 sacks and 108 tackles, including 17 TFLs.”
“The ninth-year pro led all linebackers with 36 QB pressures, per PFF. His 20 run stuffs were tied for third-most among all players in 2025, per Next Gen Stats. A free agent this offseason, Wilson should stick with Flores.”
Wilson basically balled out in Week 1 at the Chicago Bears and never looked back.
The Performance
Wilson has reached the stage where opposing offensive coordinators build answers for him into the gameplan — a sentence that would’ve sounded detached from reality one year ago. He was a backup linebacker and special teamer until 2025.
This season rewired the way people think about him. Wilson played like a roaming disruptor, collapsing pockets and showing up behind the line with welcomed regularity. He led all off-ball linebackers in sacks and pressures and sat near the top in forced fumbles.
None of that was expected — like at all. Minnesota signed him as depth, a rotational body behind Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace Jr. By December, the conversation had changed, with fans wondering how the defense functioned when he wasn’t on the field.
At age 31, Wilson fired up the best season of his career, believe it or not.
A Free Agent to Be
Meanwhile, Wilson can actually sign with any NFL team in March. Free agency is six weeks away, and most believe Wilson will be a priority to re-sign.
In all likelihood, because of Wilson’s one-year breakout and age, he’ll fetch a deal worth $5 million to $7 million. Based on his 2025 performance, that contract will be deserved.
VikingsWire‘s Garrett Burroughs opined on Vikings free agency this week, “Players we are trying to get back into the building are Eric Wilson, Ryan Wright, Jeff Okudah, Ivan Pace, and Jalen Redmond. These are the players who fit best with what we are trying to do here. Wilson and Pace are going to be featured pieces in this linebacker room.”
“Wright performed well this year, and when you find a good punter, you keep him. Okudah had flashes of his potential this season, and we want to give him a full year in this defense to see what we have. Lastly, Redmond from the interior had six sacks on the year, which is something teams can not easily replace.”
The Current LB Situation
Hard to believe, but Minnesota’s linebacker room enters the offseason razor-thin. Remove Wilson from the equation and the depth chart gets uncomfortable pretty fast, leaving just three off-ball linebackers under contract: Blake Cashman, Josh Ross, and Jacob Roberts.
Cashman is a legitimate starter. Ross and Roberts sit much closer to the roster fringe than anything, with no guarantees beyond camp. The fix could be straightforward — bringing back Wilson and possibly Ivan Pace Jr. — especially with Brian Flores now locked in long term.
Still, as January winds down, the Vikings are staring at one of the leanest inside linebacker groups in the league.
The Other Unsung Hero: DT Jalen Redmond
Redmond wasn’t merely Minnesota’s best defensive player in 2025 — he anchored the interior defensive line. Outside of Justin Jefferson, no Viking changed games more reliably.
That matters because general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah doesn’t have a deep bench of draft victories to reference. The 2022 draft class stunk. The 2023 group delivered Jordan Addison and little beyond him. So when Redmond, a former UFL afterthought, walked in and played like a baller right away, people noticed.
The numbers support it. Redmond closed 2025 with a 72.7 PFF grade, six interior sacks — 11th among defensive tackles — and repeatedly batted passes that stalled drives.
Redmond answered the calls early about his sustainability and never stopped. PFF even called Redmond the Vikings’ “secret superstar” of 2025 earlier this month.
Did you have Wilson and Redmond on your 2025 bingo board as the best defensive players?
You must be logged in to post a comment.