Call it the “offseason” if you want. But in reality, the Minnesota Vikings never stop. During six months of the year, they play 17 regular season games , then hopefully make the postseason playoff bracket.
The next six months, they spend replacing select players, coaches and executives with new blood at all three levels. Some years, the changes are more significant than others, but it’s an offseason process that the NFL has mastered, and one that has football fans entranced 365 days of the year. 2025 is worth watching for many reasons.
But without a doubt, most Minnesota Vikings fans and pundits are yet again paying closest attention to what head coach Kevin O’Connell & Co are going to do with the unknowns at quarterback. After 2024 No. 10 overall draft pick JJ McCarthy inconspicuously tore his meniscus during the first preseason game of his NFL career, O’Connell had no choice but to hand the 2024 QB keys to 2018 No.
3 overall draft pick Sam Darnold, who responded by driving KOC’s newly stocked Vikings offense right to a super-sized pay raise for 2025 and beyond. ESPN NFL expert sees Sam Darnold back in purple But where will he get said raise, and how much will it be? There are a lot of opinions on that question, flying around NFL circles that include fans, media and team executives. But one very informed opinion landed at ESPN, recently when plugged-in, data-driven NFL analyst Ben Solak confidently projected that Darnold would be back in purple on a brand new lon.