6. Bredeson receiving baton from Ham | by Craig Peters
There was some pondering back in 2022 when O'Connell was hired about the fate of fullback C.J. Ham, who had totaled 1,134 offensive snaps from 2019-21 and made his first of two career Pro Bowls after the 2019 season in which Minnesota deployed the Kubiak offensive system.
Ham's offensive snaps dropped in 2022 to 169 (15 percent), but he contributed a career-high 324 special teams snaps.
Coaches increased Ham's involvement in the offense over the next three seasons, which his offensive snap share going to 19 percent in 2023 (another Pro Bowl season) to 24 percent in 2024. Last season, he missed six games, but his 184 offensive snaps accounted for 28 percent of the team's share in those contests. The Duluth native received a fitting hero's send-off in the 2025 season finale, scoring his sixth career rushing touchdown in a win over Green Bay.
Ham's execution, combined with Minnesota's offseason emphasis on the run game, positioned the team to use a fifth-round pick on fullback Max Bredeson. Minnesota importantly calculated how long it could wait on Day 3 of the draft before tabbing Bredeson to take the baton from Ham.
Although the offseason program was spent in helmets and shorts (and with an emphasis on 7-on-7 passing and a deemphasis on physicality), Bredeson looked the part with his ability to move around the formation before the snap and his GPS-esque navigation to the right spots for lead blocking.
McCarthy, who was at Bredeson's house for the draft via invitation from his former Michigan teammate, said Ham is an "absolute legend" with big shoes to fill, but Bredeson is somebody "I can't speak highly enough of."
"He's a foxhole guy, does it all, and he has this aura to him that is, just by any means necessary, he's going to get the job done," McCarthy said. "We know he's a guy that we can count on when it comes down to it."