With the 2024 NFL draft in the rearview mirror and organized team activities currently in progress across the league, initial rosters are more or less set. Of course, those rosters will change dramatically as teams reduce their rosters to the required 53-man size, but the roster situation is now stable.
That makes now the perfect time for PFF to drop their first look at rosters for the 2024 season. Writers Jim Wyman and Dalton Wasserman put their heads together and went around the league to look at the state of each team’s roster heading into the year. Some Minnesota Vikings fans may be a little miffed at the result, as the Vikings come in just outside the top 20 at #21.
According to PFF, their offensive line is the biggest strength on the Vikings roster heading into the season. With bookend tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill and the recent re-signing of guard Dalton Risner, that makes a lot of sense. The 2023 offensive line combined to turn in the fourth-best pass-blocking grade as a line.
On the opposite side of things, it’s probably no surprise after the departure of Danielle Hunter in the offseason that the Vikings pass rush is the unit identified by PFF as the biggest weakness. Even with Hunter in the fold, Minnesota finished next-to-last in pass-rush grade last season and didn’t have a single game with a grade above 70.
While PFF is pessimistic about the Vikings pass rush with Hunter’s departure, they are optimistic about a revitalized Vikings running game with the addition of former Packers running back Aaron Jones. The belief is that a healthy Jones will be the workhorse back and breathe life into a running game that finished 24th in rushing grade last season despite getting a top-10 run-blocking effort from the offensive line.
All that adds up to the crew at PFF projecting the Vikings to go over their 6.5 win total O/U, albeit they don’t seem to think Minnesota will pass that number by much. The 21st overall ranking puts Minnesota at the bottom of the NFC North for PFF. Detroit leads the way in the division, coming in at sixth overall, while the Packers and Bears come in at thirteenth and twentieth overall, respectively.