The Minnesota Vikings are in a very interesting place going into the 2025 season.
After three years of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah trying to fix the salary cap situation, they were finally able to get it healthy enough for the Vikings to go on a major spending spree this offseason.
This March, Adofo-Mensah spared no expense to fortify the trenches, adding five high-profile players that will likely be starters for the Vikings this season.
J.J. McCarthy can just play quarterback
The focus over the last few years was fixing the salary cap, and its something that Sports Ilustrated's Albert Breer highlighted in his latest takeaways piece.
When coach Kevin O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah arrived in the Twin Cities in 2022, they found a roster with a nice base of talent but with some age and plenty of cap debt that was a product of accumulating that talent.
They wanted to gradually retool and reset the team, and part of that was drafting a QB in 2024.
I’m not sure people notice it playing out. Last year, they landed Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel to replace Danielle Hunter with their growing financial flexibility, and added Aaron Jones to the offense. This year, with a charge to get tougher in the middle, they augmented the offensive line with Colts veterans Ryan Kelly and Will Fries and the D-line with former stalwart Commander Jonathan Allen while extending Byron Murphy.
All of this has been evident for quite some time, especially if you've been keeping an eye on the Vikings' free agency moves since Adofo-Mensah took over. It was all to set up J.J. McCarthy with the tools to be successful from the jump, something that teams often overlook. Most teams with a top pick just take a quarterback to take one, not necessarily thinking forward enough about their development.
That element is what doesn't get talked about nearly enough, and Breer mentioned it as well.
Which underscores the most important part of this—they won’t be asking the world of McCarthy. He can just go play quarterback, which is the way you usually see young guys at his position win.
It's really that simple with this Vikings team. They have an elite defense run by defensive coordinator Brian Flores and a bevy of weapons on the outside including Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Essentially, the Vikings spent three years making this roster quarterback proof. That's a big deal for a first time starter.
The Vikings shouldn't be overlooked for that main reason. McCarthy doesn't have to do much of anything outside of just be a game manager and the Vikings can win 10-12 games. If he takes a big step forward, the Vikings could make that long awaited Super Bowl run.
