The Vikings’ Ruthless Message to the Roster
Simply being a good team that piles up regular season wins is no longer good enough.
Almost certainly, Minnesota’s top leaders would be quite a bit more upbeat and optimistic, but the Vikings’ ruthless message is still plain to see. Understand, folks, that each high-end addition in the offseason meant some form of subtraction in the zero-sum game that is roster building. The Vikings had a glaring, debilitating problem and addressed the issue with great vigor. What gets communicated with those actions?
The Vikings’ Ruthless Message: Past Success Not Good Enough
Star right tackle Brian O’Neill understands the issue as well as anyone. In fact, he has been quite articulate when chatting about what’s in front of his Vikings.
For starters, O’Neill said he’s willing to embrace whatever approach necessary to score in bunches. “I want to score 35 points and win every game,” O’Neill explains. “So, like, at this point I don’t really care. Not to be a short answer, but I want to win. And however that happens, I’m good with.”
Brian O’Neill also understands that his team’s firm commitment to improvement means that players get squeezed out, even acknowledging that the day will for him eventually. “They’re not doing their job,” the team captain insists, “if they’re not looking for my replacement at some point.” The right tackle says that the team’s top leaders are pushing ahead “to continually push the needle to make this place as best as it possibly can be” due to a desire in Eagan to “get the best.”
Come at the issue from a different angle: Kevin O’Connell’s open enthusiasm for rookie left guard Donovan Jackson.
O’Connell has been willing to let his mind wander (wonder?) about the rookie having an early ascent, openly discussing the potential: “Envisioning [Jackson] being on a front with potentially Ryan Kelly and Christian Darrisaw, Will Fries and Brian O’Neill. That’s a pretty formidable group on paper. We’ve got to make it come to life on the grass.”
The good news about Jackson is what Vikings fans want to see and yet it comes at a cost: seeing Blake Brandel getting demoted and with a murky Minnesota future.
Step back and consider the interior offensive line more broadly, a subject of no shortage of digital ink when discussing the Vikings. Jackson, Ryan Kelly, and Will Fries certainly appear to be a direct response to the playoff protection meltdown, even if the head coach will now get evasive about insisting as much.
Consider a trio of players. Ed Ingram was drafted by the current regime (and shown tons of patience), Dalton Risner was signed as a free agent by the current regime, and Garrett Bradbury was brought aboard by Rick Spielman before being extended by the current regime. In order, those players were traded away, left to languish in free agency, and cut from the roster after an upgrade had been found.
Any sense at all that what Brian O’Neill was saying is coming through a little clearer as a result of these actions? The roster needs to improve. Past status — being a draft pick, free-agent signing, extended carryover player — doesn’t really matter. Improvement is the name of the game, even if it involves saying goodbye to several players with established jobs in Minnesota.
Now, the simple insistence that the NFL is a tough business where teams are looking to improve isn’t exactly a shocking revelation. What is far more fascinating is the degree to which the Vikings have welcomed change, casting off the far-too-lackadaisical approach to the o-line of yesteryear.
So, too, did they make a meaningful swap at RB2 (Jordan Mason over Cam Akers), at LB3 (Eric Wilson over Kamu Grugier-Hill), and punt returner (the crowded competition over Brandon Powell). Oh, and did the defensive tackles see any improvement with the additions of Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave?
Give the final word to Kevin O’Connell, someone who is better known for his proclivity for being a glass-half-full coach rather than someone who is part of the Vikings’ ruthless approach. Did just a hint of the Vikings’ ruthlessness sneak through in his press conference at OTAs?
Mistakes, per O’Connell, aren’t something to be worried about at this stage of the offseason. A problem does arise, however, when a mistake gets made a second time: “Are we seeing growth and development or are we seeing repeat offenders and repeat mistakes that are going to only set our football team back?”
Keep in mind that the rhetorical question comes directly off of acknowledging his ambition for playing “seventeen plus games.” In other words, moving through the regular season and then getting into the playoffs. Seeing “repeat offenders” — players who keep making the same mistake — isn’t something O’Connell is keen about. Is patience running out?
Kevin O’Connell won’t need to be reminded that he’s 0-2 in the playoffs. Neither will Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Brian O’Neill, or any of the Vikings’ other key leaders and players. The point, folks, is that Minnesota is moving ahead with the understanding that 14-3 football before a playoff shellacking isn’t good enough. That belief has spurred them to action, demonstrating an urgency when replacing players that has eluded previous versions of the Vikings.
Organized teams activities will continue unfolding in the coming days. June will offer up mini camp and July will be when training camp takes lift off. The Vikings’ desire to improve means that no one should be comfortable.
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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 Bluesky (@VikingsGazette). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.
