The Minnesota Vikings have set up their 2025 season very well with an excellent free agency haul. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has put the Vikings in a fantastic position to make a real Super Bowl run over the next 3-4 years.
The defensive tackle room needed an immediate upgrade and they got one with both Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave. Plus, they re-signed cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. and added more depth with Isaiah Rodgers.
Vikings signings of Ryan Kelly and Will Fries could change draft strategy
The other area that the Vikings addressed was the interior offensive line. The additions of Ryan Kelly and Will Fries have the fanbase excited beyond reason. It’s the first time in years that the Vikings have a good interior of the offensive line, arguably since Steve Hutchinson was on the team.
Over the last 10+ years, the Vikings have tried just about everything but invested major free agency dollars on the interior. First-round picks, day two picks, inexpensive dart throws, and mid-level players have all been tried to fix the interior. With the additions of both Kelly and Fries, the Vikings have seemingly fixed that aspect.
These moves arguably share a signal of what the Vikings could do. One of the big reasons why the Vikings wanted more size in the interior is to fix the running game. The two players they added are very interesting in how that could manifest in 2025.
The Vikings have focused mainly on zone runs under O’Connell. Per Pro Football Focus, the Vikings ran 226 zone concept runs (60.27% of total runs) in 2024, a trend that has been consistent. Kelly and Fries’ former team the Colts were on the other side of the spectrum with 231 gap runs (52.03%).
The Los Angeles Rams with Sean McVay — Kevin O’Connell’s mentor — have shifted more toward gap-based runs with 186 zone runs (54.23%) in 2022, but 267 (63.42%) in 2023 and 197 in 2024 (50.26%). Focusing on gap-based runs like duo has been a major shift in how the Rams have utilized their running game.
That element could be in play for the Vikings, especially with the added beef on the interior. A shift in the running game also means the Vikings could focus on different running backs in the draft.
A lot of analysts have focused on Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson to be a great fit for what the Vikings do, but this kind of change to the running scheme has a good chance of impacting who general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will prioritize in the NFL Draft. A player like North Carolina’s Omarion Hamption is now more in play, as some of the issues with vision will be minimized by running more duo.
Will the Vikings truly make that shift? It’s certainly worth keeping an eye on over the next six weeks leading up to the NFL Draft, as who they take at running back could be a heavy signal about how the run game will be constructed.
