Shortly before the start of the 2025 season, the Minnesota Vikings made a bit of a shocking decision to trade veteran defensive lineman Harrison Phillips to the New York Jets. Midway through October, that decision to move on from Phillips is one that the Vikings likely regret.
During the majority of the veteran defender's tenure with Minnesota, he excelled at stopping the opposing team's rushing attack. That has continued this season with the Jets, as Phillips currently ranks 27th out of 124 qualifying defensive linemen from around the league in PFF run defense grade.
Without him on their roster this season, the Vikings' run defense has been one of the worst in the NFL, especially in their last few games.
After giving up 207 yards on the ground to the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday, Minnesota has now allowed at least 130 rushing yards in four of its seven games this year, which has already matched the total number of times they let it happen in the entire 2024 season.
Trading Harrison Phillips to the New York Jets now looks like a massive mistake by the Minnesota Vikings
With the emergence of Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez during the summer and the additions of Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in free agency, the Vikings clearly felt they would be fine without Phillips this season.
Unfortunately, it continues to look like Minnesota made a big mistake by not figuring out a way to keep Phillips on its roster this year.
We already mentioned what his current PFF run defense grade is this season, but it looks even more significant when placed compared to the current PFF run defense grades of Allen and Hargrave. Through seven games, Allen ranks 92nd among qualifying NFL defensive linemen in PFF run defense grade, and Hargrave ranks 111th.
Trading Phillips didn't make a ton of sense when the Vikings did before the start of the 2025 season, and now after the team's first seven games, it makes even less sense.