There may not be a place with more pressure than TCO Performance Center in the next few days. After the Minnesota Vikings wrap up their preseason schedule with a game against the Tennessee Titans, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Kevin O’Connell and his staff will cut their 90-man roster down to 53 players by Tuesday afternoon.
For many, the 60 minutes against the Titans could be an important moment in their careers. Then again, some of the camp battles have already been decided.
The Vikings traded Harrison Phillips to the New York Jets on Wednesday night. The move was surprising, considering Phillips’ status as a locker room leader, and it triggered a response from O’Connell that rivaled that of players who had been with the team for a decade.
Head Coach Kevin O'Connell on Harrison Phillips pic.twitter.com/Bd67lhCxu6
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 21, 2025
While Phillips’ departure is a sign that the Vikings have turned one of their biggest weaknesses into a strength this season, it’s a delicate risk that could require some of the young players to take a leap forward this season.
It starts with the state of the defensive line. Phillips was one of Adofo-Mensah’s first signings as general manager, and it didn’t take long to understand why. Nobody will mistake Phillips for a game-wrecking defensive tackle like John Randle. Still, he’s the kind of guy you want next to you when you go to war in the trenches.
Phillips wasn’t flashy, but he was dependable. Even when he was banged up in 2023, he played to the point he could barely get off the field. In 2024, Phillips was part of a revamped unit under Brian Flores, but it was clear they needed an upgrade to create pressure.
The first step came this offseason when the Vikings signed Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave. Like Phillips, the duo was a pair of grizzled veterans who brought something to Flores’s defense and a mentality that could help them make a deep run into January.
Allen and Hargrave’s pass-rushing acumen was a cherry on top. They have combined for 87.5 sacks during their careers, giving Minnesota a game-wrecking presence in the middle they haven’t had since Sharrif Floyd underwent unsuccessful quad surgery in 2016. You could even argue that Minnesota hasn’t had this caliber of interior rusher since Kevin Williams left in 2013, when he collected 60 of his 63 career sacks with the Vikings.
Even then, there was still a spot for Phillips to remain on the roster. He was a leader in the locker room. He was a 2023 finalist for Minnesota’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award for his community work. Phillips even took J.J. McCarthy under his wing after he asked to study NFL defenses with him. Phillips is a guy you want in your locker room. But plans change quickly in this league.
Minnesota probably didn’t expect the wealth of depth that showed up at training camp. Jalen Redmond was good for the Vikings last year, posting the highest PFF overall run-defense and overall grades on the team among interior defenders. Still, that was news to the New England Patriots, who watched Redmond flash consistently during a recent joint practice.
Levi Drake Rodriguez was a seventh-round pick from the 2024 draft, but showed up to camp and put his motor on full display. 2025 fifth-round pick Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and UDFA Elijah Williams also flashed constantly, creating a difficult decision for the Vikings.
Every training camp has this type of decision, where young players emerge from nowhere and take the sting out of trading an established veteran. Still, it’s different when that player has the stature Phillips had in the locker room.
The Vikings faced a similar decision when Tashawn Bower arrived at training camp in 2018. After he flashed in a regime that was obsessed with finding “The Next Danielle Hunter,” Mike Zimmer decided to keep the young pass rusher instead of Brian Robison.
Getting rid of a player entering his age-35 season seems harmless, but Robison had a big role in the locker room. You can’t fault the Vikings for not realizing that Everson Griffen would suffer a steep decline. Still, Bower never lived up to the vision that Zimmer and his staff had, creating a lack of depth that would keep Minnesota out of the playoffs.
Then again, if there’s a locker room culture that can withstand a move like this, it’s the Vikings. Allen and Hargrave are former Pro Bowlers who can take the young players under their wing. While Bower was tabbed as a backup edge, the Vikings have several players in front of the new talent that can allow them to develop at their own pace.
There’s also an element that could allow Adofo-Mensah to make a bigger move as the cutdown nears. However, this is a calculated risk, where you have to trust that the Vikings know what they’re doing.