Vikings Rumors: Kwesi’s Fulfilled Promise, DT Retiring, and Draft Class Cap Cost
As we enter the portion of the year when Vikings rumors start heating up, we’ll be highlighting some of the purple rumblings.
The “Vikings Rumor Wrangle” is a series that keeps readers informed on what’s being whispered about in Vikings Land. In this iteration, we discuss Kwesi Adofo-Mensah fulfilling a promise, a former defensive tackle deciding to call it a career, and how much the draft class will cost.
Vikings Rumors: 03.19.2025
Rumor #1 — Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Lived Up to His Promise
Back at the 2025 NFL Combine — feels like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? — Mr. Adofo-Mensah made a few promises about how things were going to unfold during the offseason.
First off, consider the statement about wanting to be aggressive when addressing roster shortcomings. “We got some ability to improve, not just in free agency and the draft, and those are connected things […] We know what we need to improve,” the GM begins.
Adofo-Mensah goes on: “I can tell you that what I know about this organization, when Kevin and I are in charge that we’re going to be intentional about attacking the things we need to get better at, that’s not going to just be one thing. We’re going to really aggressively attack it cause we believe in turning potential weakness into strength. That’s how we’re going to approach the offseason.”
At a different point, Adofo-Mensah made a different promise, one that hits the ear as being a bit odd.
Per the GM, the roster building philosophy should mirror Noah’s Ark, the biblical story where a pair of animals of each kind (alongside Noah’s family) get saved from a massive flood aboard a huge boat. Per Adofo-Mensah, he likes to “joke that I want our team building to be like a Noah’s ark philosophy.” The GM goes on to unpack what he means: “I believe in building a team built for the seventeen-game attrition of the NFL season. And so that if somebody gets hurt, I wish you would see what’s behind them.”
In other words, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wants to be two-deep across his roster. If/when a starter needs time in the infirmary, then the backup can jump into action while the team doesn’t see a huge drop off. Do the Jonathan Allen/Javon Hargrave signings point toward fulfilling that promise? What about re-signing Aaron Jones before then trading for Jordan Mason? Even the iOL got a pair of players — Ryan Kelly and Will Fries — but that one does feel a bit different due to them playing different positions.
Rumor #2 — A Former Defensive Tackle is Moving on from Football
Jaleel Johnson is hanging up his cleats, as Aaron Wilson relayed.
On PurplePTSD, Janik Eckardt covered the news, writing, “Johnson’s Vikings career lasted four years, and he appeared in 53 games with 20 starts, tabulating 87 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and one forced fumble […] His role expanded in 2020 when he became a full-time starter following Linval Joseph’s exit and Michael Pierce’s opt-out. Pierce recently announced his retirement, too.”
For a long time, Minnesota has failed to fully address the defensive tackle spot. There have been some wonderful run-stuffers, but the team has been lacking someone who can collapse the pocket with consistency (see above for the emphasis on signing both of Allen and Hargrave).
Johnson steps away from football at the age of 30. He has been involved in 86 career games and has been employed by five different teams, making roughly $5.75 million in his career. We here at PurplePTSD send along our well wishes for a great retirement.
Rumor #3 — The 2025 Draft Class and The Needed Cap Space
Right now, the Vikings are sitting on some open cap space. Some depth pieces will still be added — the work of free agency isn’t done yet even if the frenzy has fizzled — but some of that open room is going to get sunk into the picks from the 2025 NFL Draft.
On Spotrac, there’s a breakdown of what those numbers will look like. The team’s top pick — No. 24 overall — reasonably demands the largest portion of the pie, coming in at $2,822,113 for 2025 (the number will rise as the years of the rookie contract go on).
The other three selections — No. 97, No. 139, and No. 187 — all come in at roughly $1 million or less, so we’re talking about cheap contracts in the world of NFL finances. Indeed, one of the best ways to balance a budget is to get cost-controlled talent in the draft. Doing so means gaining contributors who are playing on cheap contracts that free-agent signings often can’t mirror.
Of course, keep in mind that a trade or two seems fairly likely for Minnesota, so these numbers could change. As of right now, though, the estimated total cap hit for the Vikings’ four-person draft class is sitting at about $5.7 million. The team has more than $30 million in the current budget.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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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 social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.