Choosing to not spend a lot of salary cap space on a quarterback in 2025 allowed the Minnesota Vikings to pursue free agents who can improve other parts of the team while seeing what J.J. McCarthy brings to the team.
With that money, the Vikings immediately looked to improve their presence in the trenches. The offensive and defensive lines were the top priority but other areas of the roster were addressed as well.
Although the team did a solid job of reenforcing their lines, there is debate on whether or not the salary cap space spent on those free agents was money well spent or if it was foolish to be that aggressive.
The Minnesota Vikings were aggressive in free agency, but were they reckless with their salary cap space?
Recently, ESPN’s Seth Walder handed out his offseason grades and didn't seem too fond of how the Minnesota Vikings handled their business. He gave the team a grade of C+ for their offseason moves. He praised the decision to go forward with J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, but didn't like the contracts of several free agents that were signed.
Walder criticized the contracts of multiple Vikings players. He didn't like the contracts for offensive lineman Will Fries or the contract signed by defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. The extensions signed by running back Aaron Jones and edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel were also mentioned as being "rich" deals that could be considered overpaid.
Perhaps the most interesting criticism came for what the Vikings did during the 2025 NFL Draft.
"No team needed to trade down more, given Minnesota's dearth of picks, yet they picked guard Donovan Jackson in Round 1 even though they had a good deal available from the Giants and a great one from the Falcons, who traded up for each of the next two picks behind Minnesota. That was a major squandered opportunity."
A larger number of picks doesn't necessarily translate to a better draft class. The Minnesota Vikings stayed true to their draft philosophy and took the player they wanted when they were on the clock. Although they don't have a wide net of players to hope work out this year, they got guard Donovan Jackson and wide receiver Tai Felton after circling them on their big boards instead of rolling the dice by trading down and hoping those players will be there later in the draft.