Vikings’ Top 3 Players Point Toward Continuity and Change
The top spot doesn’t offer much debate.
Justin Jefferson, 24, is inarguably one of the NFL’s best players. Similarly, he’s inarguably the Vikings’ top player. What remains subject to debate is who deserves the silver and bronze medals on Minnesota’s roster. Recently, PFF jumped into the topic by seeking to identify who the best players are for Minnesota.
The Vikings’ Top 3 Players and A Roster in Transition
Trevor Sikkema takes on the incredibly ambitious task of identifying the top trio for every NFL team. The Minnesota portion proceeds in a predictable manner.
Consider what Sikkema has to say about Jefferson. The WR1 “is one of the best receivers, if not the best, in the NFL. The 2023 campaign marked his fourth straight receiving grade above 90.0.” In other words, the PFF analyst is seeing an established track record of elite play, motivating the placement at the very top of Mount Minnesota (so to speak).
The contenders to get tossed into the other two openings are numerous: Brian O’Neill, Harrison Smith, Jonathan Greenard, Aaron Jones, Jordan Addison, Christian Darrisaw, T.J. Hockenson, Josh Metellus, and Ivan Pace Jr. (among others). Sikkema snags the LT and the TE as his picks for the Vikings’ second and third best players.
The tight gets praised for “becom[ing] a very reliable and steady presence in the Vikings ‘offense, earning a 79.6 grade on the season.” Meanwhile, Darrisaw gets dinged a bit for not being “as dominant in 2023 as in 2022, but his 85.1 PFF grade in 2023 is nothing to stick your nose up at.”
And who else was under consideration for Sikkema? RT Brian O’Neill, who gets the less prestigious “Also Considered” tag.
The first point that stands out is that Minnesota’s defense isn’t offering a representative. All of the very best players, at least within the world of the PFF article, play on offense. Even the runner up, Mr. O’Neill, is a player for the offense.
Removing Danielle Hunter from the equation means Minnesota has lost its clear-cut best player from the 2023 defense. As a whole, the hope is that Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Dallas Turner, Blake Cashman, and various others collectively replace Mr. Hunter while pushing the defense higher than last season.
Doesn’t that reality point toward both where Minnesota has been and where Minnesota is going?
The players PFF highlights are not just offensive guys but are ones who have called Minnesota home for multiple seasons. The defense does have those players who have been around for a bit — The Hitman stands out — but most are in the “very good” category rather than “elite” territory.
The Vikings are a team working through a transitional phase. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is pleased with how things have gone but he understands that more work is ahead. So while there’s optimism about the team’s returning and new talent, the Vikings have a ton to prove.
Minnesota’s regular season begins in less than four months.
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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.