Vikings Continue Emphasis on the Trenches in Round 1
Minnesota Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, after the first round of the draft, said the following:
”Great offensive lines are team lifters.”
His belief in this hasn’t been made a secret yet in the 2025 off-season. Even before sticking and picking Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson with the 24th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Vikings sunk serious money into the offensive interior line.
$9 million AAV for center Ryan Kelly, $17.5 million AAV for guard Will Fries, and now a first-round selection when the Vikings pretty much had the pick of the litter of the 2025 cornerback prospect pool.
Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings aren’t being shy about how much they value the offensive line as a whole, something that would’ve been an absolute delight to Vikings fans about seven to eight years ago, as the revolving door of linemen just never seemed to stop spinning open and closed.
Supporting that point is the fact that they also just paid left tackle Christian Darrisaw $104 million over four years, as well as Blake Brandel $9.5 million over three years.
The Vikings going offensive line was something that only started being considered a legitimate possibility by most Vikings fans in the last couple of weeks. However, the loud and proud pure football guys got their wish, and the Vikings get some more meat in the middle.
And it makes sense; Jackson can presumably start pretty quickly by knocking Blake Brandel out of his role as starting left guard between Darrisaw and Kelly. Not only that, but Jackson provides long-term flexibility at multiple positions on the line.
The kid can play left guard or left tackle exceptionally well, and there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t fill in at right guard if needed as well. Center might be a different story, though, if there’s anyone with the skill set to adapt to the position, it’s probably Jackson.
Now, is it justifiable to be “upset” that the Vikings went this route? Sure. The argument of “well, you wanted them to invest in the interior offensive line and they did!” is a flawed one, because that train of logic died in mid-March when the Vikings signed the aforementioned Kelly and Fries.
Many Vikings fans were likely hoping to hear the name of Michigan CB Will Johnson called with their selection, although the former consensus top-ten selection has now officially fallen out of the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft as a whole.
It’s fair any which way to be upset or happy with what the Vikings did with the selection of Jackson; the board shook out really well for them, and just about any selection made at 24 had an argument to be the right one. It’s easy to say the Vikings should have gone corner, and it’s easy to say they should’ve traded back. If you said either one of those, then I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with you.
No matter what you think the purple team should or shouldn’t have done, what’s done is done, and there’s a plan in place that dates back to 2022 that’s been working out quite well.
If nothing else, we finally have a regime in the Twin Cities that understands the importance of the trenches in the game of football; that’s a very good thing, and a very refreshing sight to behold.
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