As part of their general focus on getting better in the trenches this offseason, the Minnesota Vikings brought in veteran defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave. Both brought age and durability questions with them, but some calculated risk was necessary to fix an ongoing issue.
Last season, edge rushers Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard accounted for nearly half of the Vikings' 48 sacks (23.5). No. 3 edge rusher Patrick Jones added another seven sacks. Defensive tackles in Brian Flores' scheme are often left to be space eaters as part of a liberal rotation, but a lack of interior pass rush predates for Minnesota's defensive line Flores' arrival as defensive coordinator.
The Vikings sacked Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams twice in Week 1, but they put plenty of pressure on him in the game. Pro Football Focus broadly credited the Vikings with a Week 1-high 20 quarterback pressures as a team. Of course, more than one player can register pressure on a single play, so an individual breakdown on the Vikings' end shows 30 total pressures.
Hargrave had both sacks of Williams, and he tied Greenard for the team lead (and tied for the most among all interior defensive linemen in the league for the week) with seven pressures. Allen followed them with six pressures of the Bears' signal caller.
One game already proved how the Vikings nailed their offseason DT overhaul
Via Nick Olson of Vikings Territory, those 13 pressures from Hargrave and Allen on Monday night almost equaled what the Vikings' starting defensive tackles did in that category all of last season.
Javon Hargrave recorded 7 pressures last night (tied for most among iDL) while Jon Allen recorded 6 (tied for 2nd-most).
— Nick Olson (@NickOlsonNFL) September 9, 2025
For context, the Vikings' two starting iDL last season (Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard) combined for 21 pressures all season.
Matthew Coller of Purple Insider went back way further than last season, to a dominant Vikings defensive tackle duo from the past, to highlight the performance from Hargrave and Allen in the season opener.
Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen combined for 13 QB pressures last night per PFF. Might have to go back to the Williams Wall to find 13 pressures from two DTs in a single Vikings game
— Matthew Coller (@MatthewColler) September 9, 2025
While it was broadly very surprising when defensive tackle Harrison Phillips was traded to the New York Jets in August, he was in line for a greatly reduced role this season as the Vikings added more pass-rushing juice to their interior defensive line.
Caleb Williams played a big role in there being so much heat on him in Week 1, and the Bears' interior offensive line left a lot to be desired, but Hargrave and Allen also deserve their share of credit for making Chicago's interior linemen look so bad.
It's only one game, but the Vikings clearly nailed the pair of notable offseason moves they made to bolster their interior pass rush.