Vikings Roster Unfavorably Ranked by PFF
PFF’s Jim Wyman and Dalton Wasserman have released their 2024 NFL Roster rankings, listing every team from 1-32 and ranking them on their talent. They also list each team’s biggest strength and weakness in 2023, their X-Factor and rookie to watch for 2024 and give their prediction for each team’s over/under projection from the sportsbooks.
Vikings Roster Unfavorably Ranked by PFF
So, where does the NFC North fall?
6. Detroit Lions
Among all of Minnesota’s NFC North rivals, PFF is understandably the highest on the 2023 NFC North Division Champion Detroit Lions.
They deservingly give a big pat on the back to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, as well as his weapons in Jared Goff, Sam LaPorta, and Amon-Ra St. Brown:
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has worked magic these last two seasons running Detroit’s offense, and the results have led to perhaps the best run the Lions have had in the Super Bowl era. The newly-paid Jared Goff has been excellent, putting up an 84.3 passing grade while throwing for 4,574 yards and 30 touchdowns during the regular season. His top pass catchers were Amon-Ra St. Brown and rookie sensation Sam LaPorta. St. Brown was one of the best receivers in the NFL last season, as his 91.3 receiving grade last season trailed only Tyreek Hill and Brandon Aiyuk.
The Lions have (finally) completed a rebuild that took generations to accomplish. Going into 2023, they had only won one playoff game since 1957, which was a divisional-round victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the peak of the Barry Sanders era in 1991. They would double that amount of playoff wins this past season, defeating the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before choking a 24-7 halftime lead against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.
In the 2024 offseason, Detroit has given big-time extensions to franchise pillars Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown, who are cemented in the top dogs of the NFC (if not the NFL) for the foreseeable future.
PFF would also list third-year WR Jameson Williams as the Lions’ x-factor player and project them to have “over” 10.5 wins.
13. Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are the next NFC North team on the list, ranking at #13. PFF explains why:
The emergence of Jordan Love and the Packers’ cascade of young weapons was one of the biggest stories in the NFL last season. From Week 9 onward, Green Bay ranked third in the NFL in offensive grade and Love led the league with a 90.7 passing grade. If the Packers perform that well offensively for an entire season, they could find themselves in Super Bowl contention.
This may seem like a high ranking for a young and up-and-coming team like Green Bay, but it is completely justified. The Packers speed-ran a rebuild (if you want to even call it that) and have young impact players all over the depth chart. They’ve unfortunately done it again when it comes to drafting QBs, as Jordan Love showed last season that he is probably the real deal.
There was doubt surrounding the potential of the post-Rodgers era, with the main question mark being the development of QB Jordan Love. With all of the uncertainty lingering around Lambeau Field, there were still concerns from other fanbases in the division about the Packers somehow pulling off yet another big hit when drafting a quarterback, and it seems they have pulled it off.
In his first year starting, Jordan Love finished second in the NFL in passing touchdowns with 32, eighth in total amount of completions, and seventh in passing yards, only a couple shy of the phenomenal Patrick Mahomes. Love is in line for a significant extension sooner rather than later, as he is only on the Green Bay books for $12.5 million this season before his deal expires in the coming offseason.
Green Bay has also done quite the job surrounding him with quality young talent, with names such as Jayden Reed, Luke Musgrave, Romeo Doubs, and Christian Watson. They would also sign Josh Jacobs earlier this offseason, who is one of the best pure running backs in the NFL.
PFF goes on to call free-agency acquisition S Xavier McKinney their x-factor for the Packers’ 2024 season and predicts “over” 9.5 wins.
20. Chicago Bears
20th brings in the Chicago Bears, leaving the Vikings the lowest-ranked roster in the North, according to PFF in 2024. The main thing boosting their ranking is PFF’s faith in the Chicago defense:
Led by breakout star cornerback Jaylon Johnson, Chicago played very good defense down the stretch last season. Of particular importance was their improvement in coverage late in the year. Over the final seven weeks of the regular season, the Bears ranked fifth in coverage grade and first in interceptions.“
The Bears have plenty of talent offensively as well, with names such as Caleb Williams, D.J. Moore, Darnell Wright, Cole Kmet, and Keenan Allen, just to name a few. If 2024 first-overall pick Caleb Williams is everything Chicago and NFL fans as a whole expect, the Bears could be a legitimate problem sooner rather than later, especially with five years worth of a rookie scale deal for the generational USC prospect.
However, with that all being said, they still predict the “under” on their 7.5 win-total line in the sportsbooks.
21. Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings come in at the very next spot behind Chicago in the 21st. It may seem harsh, but with the Vikings in the main year of retooling after the departure of names like Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter, it’s fair for big publications to be skeptical of the Vikings roster going into 2024.
With that being said, PFF is quite fond of the play in 2023 of the Vikings offensive line:
Minnesota’s offensive line, led by the excellent tackle duo of Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill, is a quietly solid unit. That unit finished fourth in the NFL in pass-blocking grade last season. That group, along with Kevin O’Connell’s brilliant play calling, gave the Vikings a chance to win every week, no matter who was playing quarterback.
The main anchor to the Vikings’ ranking in 2024 looks to be the pass rush:
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores causes offenses headaches with his blitz packages, but the Vikings lacked individual pass-rush production outside of Danielle Hunter last season. As a team, they ranked 31st in pass-rush grade and did not finish a single game with a 70.0-plus pass-rush grade all year.
Minnesota letting Danielle Hunter walk to his hometown team, the Houston Texans, was a huge gut punch not only to the Vikings organization but to Vikings fans all around the world. He was one of the most beloved players in the franchise’s history and was a top-end pass rusher for what felt like his entire career.
While no one person alone can be what Danielle Hunter was for the Vikings, Kwesi Adofo-Menash has done a phenomenal job creating what might be an all-around better unit for the present and future. It was announced that the Vikings had signed edge rusher Jonathan Greenard within the first hour of the legal tampering period of free agency, signaling that Hunter would be finding a payday elsewhere.
They would also go on to sign Andrew Van Ginkel and draft Alabama superstar Dallas Turner after a trade-up from 23 to 17 with the Jaguars on draft night, a maneuver that bookended the drafting of the Vikings QB of the future and top edge rusher of the future.
2024 may not be the year where we see J.J. McCarthy a whole ton, but PFF does list him as the starter on their projected line-up for the Vikings this season. They also go on to name RB Aaron Jones as the Vikings’ x-factor and ED Dallas Turner as the rookie to watch in 2024, as well as a prediction of “over” 6.5 wins.
2024 is widely accepted among fans and critics alike to be a workshop year for the Vikings, with their true window looking to open as early as 2025, but more likely in 2026 as McCarthy gets more experience under his belt.
Vikings listed among ‘least improved’ teams for 2024