Vikings Misses and Myths: Jordan Addison’s Tomfoolery, Daniel Jones, the 2025 Draft Class
We reveal Minnesota Vikings-themed “nopedy nopes” each week, items in the franchise’s orbit that are wrong, misleading, wild, or didn’t quite work out. The action never stops, so neither does this series.
Jordan Addison’s gaffe, the Daniel Jones mistake, and why Minnesota’s 2025 draft class graded out near the bottom of the NFL.
This week focuses on an arrest, a quarterback, and ESPN’s take on the most recent draft.
Vikings Misses and Myths Mid-January
The Vikings Nopedy Nopes returns for the second week of the offseason.
The Nopedy Nope: Jordan Addison would keep his nose clean after two arrests in the last 2.5 years.
Thanks to the crew at TMZ, Jordan Addison’s arrest report has surfaced, laying out the situation as police say it happened inside the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa.
According to the report, the incident began as a trespass call at the casino’s Noodle Bar in the early morning hours.
“On 1/12/2026, at approximately 0342 hours, I was dispatched to the Noodle Bar located inside the Hard Rock Casino (Tampa) in reference to a trespass call for service. The defendant was asked several times by Casino Security to leave the restaurant and refused.”
The report then describes multiple redirection attempts as Addison was escorted out of the building.
“As the defendant was being escorted out of the building, he repeatedly had to be redirected towards the front exit. The defendant was redirected by myself and Officer Scheidegg multiple times. The defendant was then taken into custody for trespass after warning. This incident occurred within Hillsborough County.”
Before any of that report went nationwide, Addison’s legal team moved quickly, issuing a statement that characterized the event more like a misunderstanding.
“On Jordan’s behalf, his legal team has already initiated the investigation, identified witnesses, and we are reviewing the viability of a claim for false arrest. He looks forward to the legal process and upon full investigation, we are confident Mr. Addison will be exonerated.”
This now settles into familiar territory: Vikings fans left doing what they’ve done in past few offseasons — tracking Addison’s legal fallout.
The Verdict: Nopedy nope on assuming that two Addison arrests in 2023 and 2024 would end his string of misconduct.
The Nopedy Nope: The Vikings’ offseason strategy with Daniel Jones last year.
Asked Tuesday about how Minnesota handled Jones’ free agency last year, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah acknowledged the Vikings misread the situation.
“I don’t want to say overconfidence, but I do think him being here was something that we kind of considered and thought would impact his decision. But ultimately, there are free agents, and to your point, learning lessons,” Adofo-Mensah replied.
The main mistake was an assumption. Minnesota believed momentum mattered more than it did. Jones saw the 2024 Vikings as a pit stop, not a destination. He knew the Colts would hold an open QB1 competition in the summer of 2025, whereas Minnesota did not.
“I think, execution-wise, you have to treat it as such. No matter what the conversation is or relationships are, free agents are free for a reason, and they’re allowed to vet all their options. Ultimately, we could’ve executed better around that,” Adofo-Mensah continued.
“You’re trying to make sure that you don’t lock yourselves into what you did and thinking that it’s always right. I always go back to the process and what we thought at the time.”
Adofo-Mensah closed by noting accountability and hindsight.
“It’s easier to go and be revisionist and results-based, but going to really think through what we had at the time, I still understand why we did what we did. The results maybe didn’t play out the way we wanted them to, but ultimately, I think that at the end of the day, we could’ve executed better in certain places.”
The Verdict: Nopedy nope on Jones returning to the Vikings as a 2025 free agent just because he lived on the practice squad for a few weeks.
The Nopedy Nope: Donovan Jackson has anchored the 2025 draft class, and the class is therefore good.
ESPN’s Aaron Schatz stacked up every team’s 2025 rookie class once the season wrapped, and Minnesota landed near the basement — again. The Vikings finished 30th because almost nothing from that group moved the needle.
Here’s the group of 2025 rookies:
- Round 1: Donovan Jackson (OG)
- Round 3: Tai Felton (WR)
- Round 4: Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (DT)
- Round 6: Kobe King (LB)
- Round 6: Gavin Bartholomew (TE)
Jackson started for the Vikings. That was it for starters. Felton barely touched the offense. Ingram-Dawkins flashed once in a while, then vanished down the stretch of the season. King didn’t last; Minnesota weirdly cut him. Bartholomew never made it onto the field due to injury.
Schatz wrote, “Much like the Colts, almost all the rookie value for the Vikings came from a single first-round pick. Minnesota took guard Donovan Jackson with the No. 24 selection, and he was a quality starter for most of the season. Jackson finished with a 92.6% pass block win rate (average for guards) and a 76.9% run block win rate (well above average).”
“And then … that’s about it. Undrafted free agent quarterback Max Brosmer was terrible when forced into action (14.0 QBR), and any other rookies had very minor impacts. This is Minnesota’s second straight year at or near the bottom of this list.”
When a draft class produces one starter, one injury redshirt, one developmental tease, and multiple dead ends, the grading is hard to dispute.
Fans will just have to take solace knowing that Dallas Turner was the reason that Minnesota had so few picks in 2025, and Turner has seemed to turn the corner into a productive defender.
The Verdict: Nopedy nope on the Vikings’ draft habits markedly improving, at least according to ESPN.
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