Jalen Redmond has gone from an afterthought to one of the Minnesota Vikings’ most important defensive pieces.
He signed with the team in 2024, a year after going undrafted, and the move barely made a ripple at the time. Now he’s carved out a major role in Brian Flores’ elite defense, and the question isn’t whether he matters anymore. It’s what this group would look like without him.
That concern came up on Vikings Collective, where Alec Lewis of The Athletic raised the possibility that Redmond may be dealing with an injury and pointed to how valuable he has become snap after snap.
"Jalen Redmond, he plays with a massive pad on his arm," Lewis said. "I don't know if he's navigating something in the present, but when you watch that guy on a snap-to-snap basis, you're like, if you pull him out of this Jenga tower, then what happens?"
With the trade deadline less than a month away, Lewis isn’t alone in thinking Minnesota may need to consider help on the interior defensive line. The Vikings have other areas that could draw attention, including running back and backup tight end, which makes it easier to overlook defensive line depth when the starters are taking every game.
Still, the big-picture reality is that injuries hit every team, and Minnesota’s defense has mostly avoided that early-season damage. The offense has already felt the strain, but the defense has stayed relatively intact, which has helped explain why the Vikings have played as well as they have through five games.
Even so, Lewis sees value in getting out ahead of a possible problem before it shows up. If Redmond were to miss time, the Vikings would feel it.
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