Category: Offseason

Watch: Sam Darnold throws flawless ball to Jordan Addison

Sam Darnold was seen throwing a nearly flawless pass to one of the top receivers on the Vikings.

Sam Darnold is on his fourth team in seven years of NFL football. The former third-overall pick has played for the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, and San Francisco 49ers in a backup role. But after starting with both the Jets and Panthers, Darnold is hoping to live up to the first-round hype that surrounded him when he entered the league out of USC.

One thing in Darnold’s favor is that he’s never had the talent around him as a starter, as he does now with the Vikings. Minnesota can surround him with the best receiver in the game and a few other dynamic pass-catchers.

During Thursday’s training camp, the Vikings released a video of Darnold throwing a flawless deep ball to Jordan Addison.

There have been some mixed reports surrounding Darnold the past couple of days, but if he can continue to layer balls as he did here, Vikings fans would be fine watching him for one whole season while rookie J.J. McCarthy gets acclimated to the NFL.

NFL analyst urges Vikings to trade for Seahawks cornerback

With an overwhelming need at the position, Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine suggest the Vikings trade for Seahawks CB Michael Jackson.

It’s no secret that the Minnesota Vikings need help at cornerback. It was a position of weakness coming into the 2024 season, even before the tragic events of the offseason. That need has only become more evident as training camp has progressed, and sooner or later, the front office may be forced to do something about it.

If the Vikings want to get out of the gates on the right foot on defense, they should head off the problem now. That’s likely the thinking behind Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine suggesting the Vikings pull off a trade with the Seattle Seahawks for cornerback Michael Jackson.

As Ballentine sees it, the Seahawks have a surplus of talent at cornerback, and that has made Jackson expendable. Jackson has talent in his own right, but has struggled to see the field in Seattle, playing just 40% of the team’s defensive snaps last season after being a starter in 2022. In that 2022 season, Jackson gave up a passer rating of just 75.1, so there’s still a good cornerback in there.

The big question is, what would the Vikings have to give up to get Jackson? The answer is one that some may not want to hear: NFL Draft capital. A resource that the Vikings are already lacking next season. As it stands today, Minnesota has just four picks in next year’s draft. Would it be worth it to give up capital next year for a potential starter now?

Considering that Ballentine’s proposal is only a fifth-round pick, it makes sense for the Vikings to part with the capital if Jackson can tap into the player he was in 2022. Minnesota isn’t likely to get a cornerback of that caliber in the fifth round. Not to mention the freedom it would open up for the few picks that Minnesota does have if they suddenly don’t have to dedicate an early one to corner.

However, if Jackson can’t regain the form he had in 2022, when he was a dependable starter, Minnesota could be stuck in the same place it is today, with one less pick next year to help rectify the situation.

Watch: J.J. McCarthy throws bomb to Jalen Nailor

The Vikings’ rookie quarterback was seen throwing a deep bomb to one of his receivers.

There are a couple of positions to watch closely as training camp continues. The most obvious is the quarterback battle between Sam Darnold, J.J. McCarthy, and Nick Mullens. It appears Darnold and McCarthy is the current pecking order, but from reports, it sounds like McCarthy is seeing more reps as the days go by.

During Day 2 of practice, McCarthy was seen throwing a laser to receiver Jalen Nailor, and Nailor was able to go up and bring it down. Nailor is another interesting player to watch this summer. The wide receiver three is another battle — with Brandon Powell having the inside track — but if Nailor can regularly bring in these types of catches — watch out.

It’s apparent the Vikings’ media doesn’t want to expose their No. 10 pick too much. The McCarthy hype hasn’t been overboard due to the lack of access the Vikings have put out regarding him. But this was an exciting throw and catch from the rookie to his receiver.

Vikings free agent signing deemed team’s worst contract by NFL analyst

Pro Football Network’s Dallas Robinson believes the signing of cornerback Shaquill Griffin in free agency is Minnesota’s worst contract.

Handing out bad contracts is something that every team’s front office dreads. However, it’s also unrealistic to think that there won’t be at least one bad contract on every team. Whether that’s due to simple poor performance, injuries derailing a career, or other external factors, it’s inevitable that a team regrets at least one contract.

For the Minnesota Vikings, that contract is recent free agent acquisition Shaquill Griffin, according to Pro Football Network’s Dallas Robinson. Robinson recently looked at every team’s roster and found the worst contract on each team, and this pick has less to do with Griffin himself and more to do with the circumstances surrounding it.

The Vikings had a clear need at the cornerback position, and Griffin was a solid option to fill that need. The Vikings also gave the veteran cornerback a modest deal, and just one year and slightly over $4.5 million. So why, then, is this deal for a former Pro Bowl cornerback deemed the team’s worst?

Robinson argues that this contract is the team’s worst because of the future ramifications the deal has. Namely that signing Griffin when the team did cancelled out one of the compensatory picks the team would have received in the 2025 NFL Draft for losing free agents Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter to the Falcons and Texans respectively.

Had the Vikings waited on signing Griffin until after the May 1st deadline, they would have been able to plug the hole in the secondary while also gaining the full slate of compensatory picks for next year’s draft — a draft where they’re already significantly strapped for capital.

The flip side of that argument is that, had the Vikings waited to sign Griffin, there’s no guarantee that he would have been on the free agent market when the team was ready to make a deal. Still, would that have been such a loss? Would the compensatory pick the Vikings sacrificed to sign Griffin have been better for the team in the long run? Only time will tell.

Vikings S Harrison Smith ranked in NFL top 100 for 7th time in his career

Harrison Smith is ranked on the NFL top 100 players list for the seventh time in his career.

For the seventh time in his career, Vikings safety Harrison Smith is on the NFL’s top 100 players list. Every year, NFL players vote on the best players in the league, and the top 100 is revealed.

Entering his 12th season in the NFL, Smith is ranked as the No. 93 player.

Smith posted 93 combined tackles and a career-best six QB hits in 2023. He also finished with three sacks, which all took place in Week 4 win over the Panthers. With six Pro Bowls and an All-Pro honor under his belt, the 35-year-old has cemented himself as one of the best safeties in the league and remains so as he enters his 13th season with the Vikings.

Smith’s NFL journey is more than likely coming to a close within the next couple of seasons, but he is still one of the more dominant safeties in football. The Vikings have a couple of other safeties to help take the load off of Smith, such as Cam Bynum and Josh Metellus, but when you think about the Minnesota defense, you usually think of Hitman.

Smith was ranked for five straight seasons in the NFL top 100 (2016-2020) and then found his way back on the list last season.

Expectations are not high for some in regards to the 2024 Vikings

USA TODAY Sports are not high on the Minnesota Vikings in 2024.

The 2024 NFL season is right around the corner. Training camp is kicking off, and outlets are rolling out their projections for the upcoming year. USA TODAY Sports came out with an article predicting the overall record of every team this year. It won’t make too many Vikings fans happy to know Minnesota was picked to finish last in the NFC North.

USA TODAY has Minnesota going 5-12 in 2024. While the author, Nate Davis, didn’t reveal which teams the Vikings beat to get to five wins, we obviously know it wasn’t very many.

Starting with All-Pro WR1 Justin Jefferson, there’s quite obviously ample talent on this roster. There’s also bound to ample whiplash as the organization transitions from QB Kirk Cousins, likely to journeyman Sam Darnold and then again to first-rounder J.J. McCarthy – quite possibly at some point later this year. Throw in the fact that five of the Vikes’ first seven opponents were playoff teams last season, a list that doesn’t include their London date with the Jets? All signs point toward a mulligan, even if HC Kevin O’Connell likely manages to field a competitive squad.

It’s worth noting he had Green Bay finishing 13-4, the Lions going 11-6, and Chicago finishing third with a 9-8 record. The Super Bowl consisted of the New York Jets beating the Green Bay Packers.

Vikings LB Ivan Pace Jr. confirms he will wear the green dot once again

The second-year linebacker confirmed he would be wearing the green dot on Sundays.

Second-year linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. has had a terrific story thus far in his young NFL career. He was a star at the University of Cincinnati in college but went undrafted because teams were concerned with his size and ability to play at the next level. The Vikings brought Pace Jr. in on a UDFA contract, and he turned out to be one of the better linebackers in the league.

When Jordan Hicks went down last year, the coaching staff turned to Pace Jr. to lean on. They gave him the green dot — the speaker to hear what plays are being called to relay to the rest of the team — which shows how much trust they had in the then-rookie.

Appearing in a segment on the Up & Adams show hosted by Kay Adams, Pace Jr. confirmed he would once again wear the green dot entering his sophomore year.

“I believe so,” said Pace Jr. “I believe so. We lost [Jordan] Hicks and when he went down last year, I took over and they gave me that trust that they had. I believe now that he’s gone, I’m definitely going to wear the green dot this coming season.”

It doesn’t happen often with UDFAs, but it shows that if you keep your head down and work hard, the sky is the limit. It is also a credit to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and his staff for finding Pace Jr. as he is shaping up to be a diamond in the rough of his draft class.

Dallas Turner named to preseason All-Rookie team by CBS Sports analyst

Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports unveiled his 2024 preseason All-Rookie team, and it features Vikings EDGE Dallas Turner as a first-team choice.

It went down to the wire, but the Minnesota Vikings and first-round pick Dallas Turner got a deal done before training camp. Now, the rookie can get in, get his feet wet, and start adjusting to life in the NFL. This is an adjustment that some don’t think will take too long for Turner.

Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports has unveiled his preseason All-Rookie team for the 2024 NFL season and has named Turner as one of his two first-team rookie EDGE players, along with Colts EDGE Laiatu Latu. Trapasso had a pretty glowing review of Turner, saying:

Turner is barely 21-years-old, wins with magnificent explosiveness and bend around the corner and is only scratching the surface with his hand work. He’ll be a weapon in Brian Flores’ ultra-aggressive defense in 2024.

Explosiveness and bend are two traits that, more often than not, equate to success at the position, and Turner has both in tremendous amounts. He still has some development to go as far as his hand usage and his pass-rush plan, but when he gets it all figured out, the sky is the limit.

If Turner can make that adjustment quickly, he could have a major impact on the Vikings’ defense. Minnesota is going to be looking for someone to step up in the absence of Danielle Hunter, and Turner was taken to be that guy.

If he can provide the kind of pass rush that many think he’s capable of, it can take some of the pressure off a suspect group of defensive backs, helping the defense as a whole improve upon their 2023 performance.

Could a reunion between Adam Thielen and the Vikings be on the horizon?

If wide receiver Adam Thielen is cut from the Carolina Panthers, could he reunite with the Minnesota Vikings? One beat writer thinks so.

Could a reunion between the Minnesota Vikings and one of their most beloved players in recent memory be in the works? One Vikings beat writer seems to think so. Star Tribune’s Vikings beat writer Ben Goessling has begun connecting the dots and believes the idea of a reunion is a real possibility.

Thielen is still under contract with the Carolina Panthers, but with some recent additions to the wide receiver corps, he could find himself as the odd man out. Returning to Minnesota would make a lot of sense for both sides if Thielen were to be cut before the NFL’s roster cut-down day.

The veteran wide receiver spent the first nine years of his career with the Vikings, notching back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2017 and 2018 on his way to his only two Pro Bowl selections. Thielen served as the team’s #2 option during the first three years of Justin Jefferson’s career, dropping off from his 1,000-yard pace but putting up double-digit touchdowns in both 2020 and 2021.

Thielen isn’t the wide receiver he once was during his early years with the Vikings. But that doesn’t mean he’s not still productive. Thielen had over 1,000 yards last year in a struggling Panthers offense as the team’s primary receiving option, which certainly wouldn’t be the case in Minnesota.

In this scenario, Thielen would come in and likely compete for the Vikings’ third wide receiver position, which could certainly use the competition. Thielen would add a veteran presence to the group and could provide a perfect complement to the duo of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

Thielen could also slide into the WR2 spot in the event of Addison’s suspension due to a DUI arrest earlier this month, reuniting with Justin Jefferson as the Vikings 1-2 punch.

Nothing is certain as of yet, but it’s definitely an exciting scenario for Vikings fans to keep an eye on. Thielen would likely be well received if he returned to Minnesota after a release from the Panthers.

Despite position change, N’Keal Harry has a chance to be cut

Minnesota Vikings tight end N’Keal Harry is a prime candidate to be cut before the start of the season according to PFN’s Dakota Randall.

Training camp and the preseason are the time for both youngsters and veterans to make their marks with their teams and prove they belong. Some of those players are trying to do so while learning new positions — like Minnesota Vikings tight end N’Keal Harry.

Unfortunately, not all of those players can make rosters, and one media outlet sees Harry as a prime candidate to be cut before the season starts. Pro Football Network’s Dakota Randall looked around the league and identified one player from each who could be cut before the season starts.

Every team will have to reduce rosters to 53 before the start of the season, so many players are prime candidates for the waiver wire. For Minnesota, Harry jumps out to Randall as the most obvious candidate.

An infamous draft bust, N’Keal Harry now is trying to learn tight end after failing as a receiver. He has the size to play the position, but if he doesn’t show well in camp, he likely will be cut before landing on a practice squad to refine his tight end skills.

If there’s a glimmer of optimism in Harry’s situation, it’s that the Vikings are relatively thin at the position — at least when it comes to playmakers. Veteran T.J. Hockenson is likely to start the season on the PUP list, and the receiving options behind him are limited.

Minnesota brought in former Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears tight end Robert Tonyan to help fill the void in Hockenson’s absence, and he’ll likely be the starter if Hockenson isn’t ready to go to start the season. Behind Tonyan, there’s Josh Oliver, who is on the team more for his blocking prowess than his receiving ability.

That leaves Harry to battle for TE4 with Johnny Mundt and Nick Muse — provided the Vikings even keep four tight ends on the final roster, which isn’t a given. Harry is likely on the outside looking in to make the team, even with the absence of Hockenson.