Several Viking Veterans Got Demoted Over the Weekend
The 2024 NFL Draft was an incredibly exciting event for Minnesota’s draftees and the fans. However, not everyone received good news over the weekend.
Quite often, football can be a zero sum game. Adding a tremendous option to take over a specific job means subtracting someone from that position. Or, at least, demoting that player to a lesser role. Several Viking veterans tumbled down the depth chart after Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s picks (at least on paper).
The Viking Veterans and The Draft Demotions
At worst, Dallas Turner is the EDGE3.
Jonathan Greenard — fresh off a four-year commitment that promises to pay $76 million — is going to be the lead option (the one tasked with bringing the “juice”). And then there’s the versatile Andrew Van Ginkel, who is going to be one of the queens on Flores’ chess board. Turner is going to complement that crew by being an upside pass rusher who will pin his ears back to get after the QB on 3rd down.
Where does that leave Patrick Jones?
The 3rd-round pick from the 2021 NFL Draft has struggled to fully distinguish himself in Minnesota. Last year, there was opportunity to do so given the injuries to Marcus Davenport and then to D.J. Wonnum late, but Jones only snagged a single sack. His spot on the roster isn’t secure.
Making things even trickier for Jones is the addition of Gabriel Murphy within the UDFA cluster, a player who is getting some hype. Every single edge rusher is an Adofo-Mensah addition — whether via draft pick, UDFA signing, or FA contract — except for Jones.
And then one thinks of Nick Mullens.
The Vikings are marching forward with four quarterbacks on the roster. The total is too large for the September roster, so one wonders if there’s a trade prior to the fall’s arrival. Sam Darnold isn’t going anywhere and neither is J.J. McCarthy. That leaves Mullens and Jaren Hall — the QB3 and QB4 — as potential subtractions, whether via cut or trade.
Hall is younger and was brought in as a 5th-round selection. Of the two, he looks to have more job security even if he has been pushed down the depth chart.
Look around at other areas and see something similar.
Bringing Will Reichard in means that John Parker Romo is now the K2. The Khyree Jackson addition may involve Akayleb Evans and/or Andrew Booth Jr. needing to battle even more for playing time. Do the picks along the lines (a pair for the OL, a single for the DL) involve any veterans being displaced from their spots?
All of these questions are legitimate. The crucial caveat is simply that there’s a reason for an offseason. Minicamp, OTAs, and training camp are all in place to help the coaching staff to discern who deserves to stay and in what role. And, of course, the preseason will function as critical bits of evidence when it comes to making the final calls.
The current outlook, though, suggests that several Viking incumbents got knocked down the depth chart a bit.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
All 17 UDFAs the Vikings Signed Following the 2024 NFL Draft
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.