Standing out at work can be a delicate balance. On the one hand, you want to show your boss that you can handle whatever task or problem they throw your way. You don’t want to turn these challenges down because you’re determined to show you’re reliable. Asking a coworker for help can feel like you’re telling your boss you can’t handle these tasks alone.
That can lead to overextending and overexerting yourself, leading to lapses in focus and creativity. However, the stubbornness of proving all that you can do alone can work against you. Sometimes, the best way to personally attack a task is to acknowledge you can’t reach an optimal solution alone and delegate responsibility to others. That keeps you fresh while engaging others, helping them become more prepared for similar challenges in the future.
Unfortunately, staffing and budget restraints can force workers into taking on too much. You can’t delegate even if you wish. You’re stretched too thin, unable to hone in on what made you stand out in the first place. And when you can’t follow through with a project that requires the help and support of others, you fall short despite your efforts.
The 2024 season could be a cautionary tale for the Minnesota Vikings regarding relying too much on their best workers. When Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison were clicking, the offense was humming. When Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel were terrorizing quarterbacks, the pass rush harassed quarterbacks. And when it harasses opposing quarterbacks, it stifles their offenses.
However, the Vikings didn’t have a counterpunch when opponents neutralized those players. The offense relied on the passing game to thrive. When Sam Darnold couldn’t get Jefferson and Addison involved in the season’s final two games, the Vikings had no other answer. They couldn’t turn to the running game to settle things down or punch the ball into the end zone inside the 10-yard line.
On defense, Van Ginkel and Greenard combined for 23.5 of the team’s 48 sacks. Still, Minnesota’s traditional defensive linemen combined for only four sacks. The Vikings had to rely on blitzes and playing pass-rushing linebackers like Jihad Ward and Patrick Jones to generate a pass rush. But these were usually reserved for obvious passing situations.
It’s no secret that teams play better when their best players play well. But opposing teams also know that. Every team’s main goal when playing the Vikings is to take Jefferson out of their game plan. If Addison can’t step up, the offense is in big trouble.
However, the Vikings are entering the 2025 offseason with a plan. Every team in the league looks to improve its roster, and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah looked to build a roster that could win in various ways.
“To win four [playoff] games, or however many you need to win the ultimate prize, you can get into different types of fights,” he said after the draft in April. “You don’t know what type of fight it’s going to be when you enter it. You want to have the type of roster, the type of schemes that will allow you to win any type of game.”
The Vikings moved on from Sam Darnold after the former draft bust resurrected his career, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. However, he didn’t throw any touchdowns in Week 18 against the Detroit Lions or in the Wild Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
It may be challenging to ask J.J. McCarthy to meet or exceed those numbers in his first year. He probably won’t have six games with three or more touchdown passes. But can he throw a couple of touchdowns with the division and No. 1 seed on the line? Can he maintain his composure and not take nine sacks in the playoffs against a team that won four fewer regular-season games?
McCarthy’s teammates will play a major role in what the Vikings ask him to do — and what they don’t. The Vikings added guard Will Fries and center Ryan Kelly in free agency to help protect McCarthy and bolster the run game. They drafted Donovan Jackson in April to be their Day 1 starter at left guard.
The Vikings also hope to get more consistent play from the running back group next year. Aaron Jones set a career-high with 1,138 rushing yards last year. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry, a respectable number but also the lowest mark of his career. Behind him, Cam Akers and Ty Chandler combined for 479 yards on 120 carries, a 4.0-yard average.
What Akers had in experience and knowledge of the system, he lacked in explosiveness. Meanwhile, Chandler’s grasp of the offense hamstrung his physical ability. That forced the Vikings to lean on Jones, who started all 17 regular-season games but battled various injuries and ailments. Could Minnesota’s rushing offense have looked different in January if he had gotten requisite rest and been fresh at the season’s end?
That led the Vikings to trade for Jordan Mason, San Francisco’s backup running back last season. He stands 5’11”, 223 lbs., bigger than Jones (5’9”, 208 lbs.). Mason averaged 5.2 yards per carry, with 3.6 yards after contact per carry. He can relieve Jones of carries and bring a different element to the running game. That could also mean a fresher Jones, who ended the 2023 season with five-straight 100-yard rushing games.
Defensively, the Vikings may not see the same gaudy numbers from Van Ginkel and Greenard. However, they are hopeful that Dallas Turner, the 17th-overall pick in 2024, can see the field more after only playing 310 defensive snaps as a rookie.
Brian Flores says that the team views all three edge rushers as starters, and they all provide position flexibility. Suppose they are all equal, and the Vikings want to keep their pass rush fresh late in the season. Then, they should also be able to occasionally trust Turner to sub in for Van Ginkel and Greenard.
The Vikings also want their interior defensive line to generate more pressure, so they signed veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to bolster the pass rush. In April, they selected Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins in the fifth round.
That could mean less Harrison Phillips, a team leader and force against the run who has never been known for his pass-rushing prowess. Despite playing 701 defensive snaps in 2024, the third-most in his career, Phillips only registered 16 pressures, per PFF. That’s one fewer pressure than his 2020 season, when he took 419 snaps.
Phillips’ high snap count may have contributed to his diminished production late last season. Eleven of his pressures came in the first eight games of the season. Even his run-defense numbers went down as the season played out. PFF credited him with 13 stops in the first nine games of the season. He failed to register a stop in six of the season’s final nine games.
Allen and Hargrave’s presence on passing downs could allow Phillips to get needed rest. That could make Phillips a more disruptive, reliable run defender later in the year. Everyone should benefit if he can be disruptive against the run and help consistently force teams into third-and-long.
The idea of dividing responsibilities started with Adofo-Mensah, who acknowledged that he had to avoid doing too much to take the roster to the next level. Instead of trying to overthink the team’s first-round pick like in 2022, he took Donovan Jackson, who filled a glaring hole on the offensive line. If Jackson pans out, then the running game will improve. If the running game improves, the passing game will also benefit, and vice versa.
Minnesota will play the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles this year. They will also play teams with good young quarterbacks, like the Washington Commanders and Cincinnati Bengals. So, matching last year’s 14-3 record may be challenging, possibly unattainable.
But Adofo-Mensah isn’t trying to build a team to top last year’s number. Improvement doesn’t necessarily require winning 14 or more regular-season games. It’s having the ability to churn out five yards on the ground when the defense is taking away the passing game. It’s pushing the interior of the pocket and disrupting quarterbacks when extra help is being sent to chip the edge rushers. And it’s being able to count on the next man up before it’s necessary due to injury.
The Vikings will still expect the best players to carry the team. However, the 2025 Vikings are hoping to have the roster depth to delegate when needed, so they can rise to any occasion.