Daily Norseman
On both sides of the ball, even?
When it came to what they wanted to accomplish in free agency and the NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings had one clear goal: get stronger on the interior on both sides of the football. The majority of their free agency signings went towards that goal, as did their first pick in April’s selection meeting when they took Ohio State offensive lineman Donovan Jackson.
Given the way that the Vikings have gone about their business both offensively and defensively in the Kevin O’Connell era, could we start seeing a shift in how the team does things on the field?
Bill Barnwell of ESPN seems to think that we very well could. In his list of superlatives for each of the NFL teams, the Vikings were given the label of “most likely to flex on the line of scrimmage.” Here’s a portion of what he has to say about the Vikings possible shift in philosophy for 2025.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to build through the interior, a philosophy that predates the Eagles. I’m intrigued to see what it means for how the Vikings play. In 2024, they had very distinct characteristics. They threw the ball at the second-highest rate of any offense on early downs in neutral game scripts. On defense, coordinator Brian Flores blitzed at the league’s highest rate, sending extra rushers at the opposing quarterback more than 39% of the time.
Do these moves hint at changes to those philosophies? With J.J. McCarthy taking over for Sam Darnold at quarterback, will the upgraded offensive line push the Vikings to lean more into the running game, where they added Jordan Mason to help shoulder the workload? And with Stephon Gilmore, Shaquill Griffin and Cam Bynum all leaving the secondary this offseason, will they relieve some of the pressure on their defensive backs by blitzing less often and trusting their strengthened front four to get home on their own?
Minnesota won 14 games last season, so it doesn’t need to make massive changes, but the investments the organization made to upgrade the interior of its lines might hint toward a stylistic evolution on both sides of the ball.
I think Barnwell is partially right. On the offensive side, I think O’Connell really does want to run the ball more frequently, particularly to take heat off of McCarthy until he shows exactly how much he’s capable of when the real bullets start flying. I understand that the coaching staff has a great deal of faith in McCarthy and their ability to coach him up, but between upgrading the offensive line and bringing in a legitimate #2 running back in Mason to team with Aaron Jones, they’re going to be able to pull it off. . .or, at the very least, they’re certainly going to try.
On the other side of the ball, I’m not sure how much Brian Flores is going to change. His defensive philosophy has been largely the...
