After last year's playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, when quarterback Sam Darnold was sacked nine times, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell foreshadowed a core part of the offseason plan.
"There's no question that we've got to be able to find a way to be able to give a quarterback [time], especially with players like Justin [Jefferson], Jordan [Addison], T.J. [Hockenson]. We've gotta find a way to solidify the interior of the pocket, starting first and foremost."
For years, the Vikings used mostly half-measures to add talent to the interior offensive line, with the generally expected results. This offseason, that strategy died with the signings of center Ryan Kelly and guard Will Fries, followed by the selection of guard Donovan Jackson in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
So it's no surprise the Vikings landed high on PFF's list of the most improved offensive lines in the league.
"General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah broke the bank in free agency to repair an offensive line that crumbled at the end of last season.
Minnesota gave guard Will Fries a massive five-year, $87.7 million contract after his impressive start to the 2024 season was cut short due to a fractured tibia. It's a major gamble from the Vikings’ front office, as Fries had put together two sub-par seasons before his impressive five-game stretch in 2024.
Fries will be joined by his former teammate Ryan Kelly on the interior after the Vikings gave him a two-year, $18 million deal.
The former Alabama center has had a bit of an up-and-down career, but he enjoyed the highest-graded season of his career in 2023 and followed it up with a solid 67.0 PFF overall grade last year."
Bold rebuild of interior offensive line carries risk for the Minnesota Vikings
As PFF's Andrew Ites noted, Fries played just five games for the Indianapolis Colts last season due to a fractured tibia. But if he'd had enough snaps to qualify, he would have had the third-best overall grade among guards (86.9) with the fourth-best run blocking grade (84.9) and the 12th-best pass blocking grade (74.9) at the position.
As Ites also noted, Fries had back-to-back subpar seasons prior to that, with overall PFF grades of 61.2 in 2023 and 58.4 in 2022. As a rookie in 2021, he played just three games. So his sample of upper-level play is last season's five games before he was injured.
Kelly was PFF's 11th-highest graded center last season, and the four-time Pro Bowler over nine seasons with the Colts will be the veteran, steady presence that quarterback J.J. McCarthy needs in his first year as a starter.
That said, the soon-to-be 32-year-old (May 30th) missed seven games last season, and he has missed at least three games in three of the last four seasons.
The Vikings needed to do something to fix their interior offensive line, and there were no punches pulled to deliver the effort O'Connell promised.
But there is always a level of risk attached to being aggressive like that, and the downside here when it comes to the additions of Fries and Kelly shouldn't be ignored.