It’s been a quiet offseason for the Minnesota Vikings. One year after spending the most cash of any team during the NFL’s free-agency period, the Vikings have opted for a more restrained approach, adding smaller pieces to improve the depth of a team that went 9-8 a year ago.
Of course, this isn’t great for selling tickets, and when national writers look at the Vikings, they see a team that hasn’t done much to improve itself from a miserable year. However, there are also many benefits to not throwing money away when jobs could be on the line, as many teams in Minnesota’s situation do. Therefore, a quiet approach may be the best way for the Vikings to build a long-term winner rather than an all-in juggernaut.
To begin this argument, we need to look at Minnesota’s past. The Vikings have been “super competitive” throughout their existence, but they’ve rarely been one of the NFL’s best. The 1998, 2009, and 2017 Vikings were exceptions to the rule. However, even if you include the 2024 team, the time between those teams shows it’s been a lot of seasons like the one Minnesota just completed.
Going back a year ago, the Vikings thought they had the recipe for long-term success. While they let Sam Darnold leave for the Seattle Seahawks, they used that money to fill needs elsewhere on the roster. Whiffs in the draft necessitated this approach, and it worked with the 2024 class when Darnold, Aaron Jones, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Jonathan Greenard came aboard. But with more money to spend, the signings had even bigger ramifications.
Minnesota’s biggest offseason signings in 2024 turned out to be lemons. The Vikings signed Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to big contracts, but they didn’t have the desired impact in Brian Flores’ defense. They paid Will Fries like Steve Hutchinson, but didn’t play like him. Ryan Kelly’s concussion issues led him to retirement, and Byron Murphy got a three-year, $54 million contract to stay in Minnesota.
The Vikings’ aggressive approach to free agency was supposed to help J.J. McCarthy succeed in his first year as a starter. While McCarthy’s struggles and inability to stay on the field played a key role, the failures of these signings were also a major factor in their missing the playoffs. It’s why former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is out of a job and why interim general manager Rob Brzezinski is taking a different approach.
Outside of Kyler Murray, Minnesota’s free-agent signings are not a bunch of household names. They gave James Pierre the biggest contract at two years and $8.5 million. However, they offered Eric Wilson the most money, who cashed in on a three-year, $22.5 million contract after being one of the sneakiest signings a year ago. The ongoing contract drama with Jonathan Greenard also hangs over the team, but it’s clear the Vikings want to build through the draft.
Looking at the previous juggernaut Vikings teams, it may be the way to go. The 1998 team had a solid infrastructure with Robert Smith, Cris Carter, and Jake Reed before Randy Moss ushered in a new wave of Vikings fans.
The 2009 team was a three-year process of strong drafts that brought in Chad Greenway, Adrian Peterson, Brian Robison, and Percy Harvin. While that team made outside moves to bring in Jared Allen and Brett Favre, the core was there to help elevate the Vikings into contenders.
Minnesota built the 2017 team through the draft. The 2015 class was a big reason, with Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter, and Stefon Diggs coming aboard. Still, they also took Harrison Smith and Xavier Rhodes in 2012 and Anthony Barr in 2014, while supplementing that core with under-the-radar free-agent signings like Linval Joseph.
The 2024 team’s success with free agents was a fortunate aberration that led to a doomed approach last year. But even if the Vikings are doing a course correction, it hasn’t stopped national pundits like Yahoo’s Frank Schwab from calling their offseason one of the worst in the NFL, largely because of his skepticism of Murray.
Yes, Murray came cheap to the Minnesota Vikings, on the veteran minimum because the Cardinals are still paying for him. But there was a reason the Cardinals moved on. And that move has been celebrated as the highlight of the Vikings’ offseason.
And the truth is, taking on a quarterback who was run out by a perennially terrible Cardinals team … really is the highlight of the Vikings’ offseason. And even that addition was a massive admission that they are on the verge of throwing in the towel on McCarthy, the 10th-overall pick of the 2024 draft after 10 career starts. Hard to see that as something positive.
But if Murray plays better, that should be enough to get the Vikings back into the playoffs. Even if he can’t, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that McCarthy improves and gets the extra win or two that gets the Vikings back to their ultimate goal of getting into the playoffs and eventually winning a postseason game.
It’s not a scenario that is as dire as some of the other situations in the league. Even if they trade Greenard, it could be part of a long-term plan that eventually lands that winner in Minnesota.
Maybe that’s not exciting for a league that is rooted in instant analysis. But it’s a more reliable way to build a team than hoping for a few free agents to prove their old teams wrong for getting rid of them. With a strong draft, Minnesota’s offseason could look a lot better, prompting pundits to turn their attention to the desperate teams who continue to overspend.