The Vikings head into 2026 with a lot of noise around them, and not much of it is optimistic. They’re stuck in a difficult division, and the quarterback situation is still the biggest reason people are keeping expectations modest.
A 9-8 finish, like last season, is the number most often attached to this team. If Kyler Murray doesn’t make it through at least 15 starts, the outlook gets even bleaker.
But the more interesting story is how Minnesota got here.
The offseason really took a sharp turn on January 30, when the owners fired GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. That came later than the usual front-office breakup, and the Vikings responded by elevating longtime executive Rob Brzezinski to interim GM. He ended up running the draft and making the free-agent calls when most of the league’s major moves were happening.
Plenty of people raised an eyebrow at that setup. Brzezinski was known more as the cap expert, the guy who helped previous GMs squeeze moves into the budget, than as the face of a full offseason.
But the Vikings got real results. He cleared enough space for Minnesota to operate without wrecking the future.
Spotrac has the 2027 Vikings with more than $42 million in cap space and just $12.8 million in dead-cap money, while the 2026 team carried $49.5 million in dead-cap money.
That flexibility mattered. Brzezinski brought back Eric Wilson and Carson Wentz, then added Jajuan Jennings, Ryan Van Demark, James Pierre and Murray in free agency. It also left room for new GM Nolan Teasley to sign Harrison Smith and Kyle Van Noy, with a little more than $8 million still available if the team needs help during the season.
The draft also followed a path fans had wanted for years: more investment up front. Minnesota used its first-round pick on DT Caleb Banks, then added DT Domonique Orange and T Caleb Tiernan in the third round.
Banks came with baggage because of multiple foot injuries, and he missed time early in the offseason before returning healthy. He isn’t expected to hit the ground running, but the long-term outlook is strong.
Orange turned heads in training camp, and Tiernan brings future upside.
That draft mattered beyond the names themselves. One of the knocks on Adofo-Mensah was that his drafts didn’t give the roster enough depth, and Minnesota paid for that.
This time, eight of Brzezinski’s draft picks made the 53-man roster, along with undrafted players Brett Thorson and Jacob Thomas. That should make the team better equipped to survive injuries than it was a year ago.
There’s also more balance across the roster than the outside chatter suggests. Minnesota enters the season with solid or better players in every position group, and Smith’s return gives the secondary a lift while helping Brian Flores handle the complexity of his defense.
Still, everything circles back to Murray.
Kevin O’Connell has already gotten strong work from veteran quarterbacks Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold, and Murray arrives with a long resume - 87 starts in seven seasons. As a rookie and in his first three years, he started 46 of 48 games.
The last four seasons have been a different story. He started all 17 games in 2024, but only 24 combined in the other three years.
Arizona cut him and took on a $46.6 million cap hit this season instead of keeping him for the final year of his deal. That alone says plenty about how the Cardinals viewed the situation, and if Murray plays well in Minnesota, it only deepens the criticism of how Arizona handled him.
The talent is obvious. The health concerns are just as real.
And there’s still the question of fit in O’Connell’s offense. Minnesota made offseason changes with the run game in mind, hoping Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason can take some pressure off Murray.
But the Vikings have talked about leaning more on the run before, too.
Even with the uncertainty, the projection here is straightforward: if last year’s team won nine games, this group shouldn’t finish with fewer than 10. O’Connell and Cousins won 13 games in 2022, and O’Connell and Darnold won 14 in 2024.
Both quarterbacks started 17 games. If Murray does the same, the Vikings can reach 12-5.
In Other News...
Vikings Quietly Changed One Key Part Of Their Packers Plan
The Vikings made a subtle but telling tweak to their opener plans against Green Bay by elevating outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy and running back DeeJay Dallas from the practice squad for game day. Van Noy is expected to give Minnesota another rotational option off the edge, while Dallas should be part of the special teams mix, adding some flexibility without altering the 53-man roster.
It is the kind of move that rarely grabs headlines, but these elevations often say plenty about how a coaching staff expects to manage a divisional game. For Minnesota, the change reshapes the depth chart for Sunday without touching the long-term roster picture, and it gives the Vikings a little extra insurance in a matchup where every small adjustment tends to matter. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Hype Comes Down To Two Huge Questions Before Packers Game
Power rankings have started to settle in on the Vikings as they head toward the Packers game, and the broad view around the league is still cautious. Most of the early assessments have Minnesota clustered somewhere in the middle of the pack, with writers weighing the team's offensive upside, defensive questions and the impact of a new-look lineup as the season takes shape.
The most interesting part of those previews is how much they hinge on two bigger unknowns, especially at quarterback and on the front line. Kyler Murray has become the latest centerpiece of the conversation, while rookie Caleb Banks is drawing attention for a different reason after a college run interrupted by injury and an offseason that did not go smoothly. For a team trying to turn projection into proof, those are the kinds of details that can swing how the Vikings are viewed before a divisional test. [Read more 🡒]
Which Vikings Starter Could Still Be Moved This Month
With the Vikings opener approaching, attention around the roster has not stopped at the usual cutdown-day noise. Minnesota has already settled on its 53-man group, but around the league there is still a sense that the club may be willing to listen if another team comes with the right kind of offer for one of its younger pieces.
Adam Schefter floated the idea that quarterback J.J. McCarthy is the sort of player Minnesota would prefer to keep, even if the door is not fully closed on a move. Jordan Addison and linebacker Ivan Pace have also been mentioned in the same conversation, which says plenty about how much roster value the Vikings have packed into a few key spots as they weigh short-term depth against possible trade compensation before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]