The 2025 Minnesota Vikings hope to stave off regression from an unforeseen 14-3 record in 2024 — in a division stuffed to the gills with fierce competitors from head to toe.
5 Vikings on the Hot Seat in 2025
The 2025 NFL Draft is 25 days away, and the roster still has a long way to go before Week 1.
But some players, now and in the summer, already have a “hot seat” designation, and these are those players, ranked in ascending order of intensity (No. 1 = warmest hot seat).
5. Harrison Phillips (DT)
Let’s get this out of the way: a hot-seat designation for Phillips has nothing to do with his personal performance, as odd as that sounds.
It’s just that the Vikings decided to crowd the house at defensive tackle this offseason, signing veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, in addition to rostering men like Phillips, Jalen Redmond, and Levi Drake Rodriguez.
If general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah drafts Walter Nolen, Kenneth Grant, Derrick Harmon, or Tyleik Williams in 3.5 weeks, Phillips could play his final season in Minnesota.
4. Ryan Wright (P)
Wright ranked 23rd in the NFL during the 2024 campaign with 46.5 yards per punt. He checked in at No. 24 leaguewide in net yards per punt but eighth per inside the 20-yard-line percentage (48.2%). Put plainly, Wright is a decent punter who is worth the recent extension, though Vikings fans shouldn’t raise their eyebrows if another specialist signs with the club before June.
He became a Viking at the dawn of the Kevin O’Connell era (2022), and if he’s nominated as the primary punter in 2025, it’ll be his fourth straight season at the helm.
Another punter could enter the mix after the NFL draft, creating a summer punting competition.
No matter what, Wright will be on a special team’s hot seat in 2025.
3. Blake Brandel (G)
Brandel played decently in 2024, his first full campaign as a starter.
And with Minnesota signing Will Fries and Ryan Kelly from the Indianapolis Colts in free agency, Brandel is the one interior offensive lineman slated to carry over continuity into 2025.
Still, Adofo-Mensah could draft a guard like Tyler Booker (Alabama), Grey Zabel (North Dakota State), Donovan Jackson (Ohio State), or Tate Ratledge (Georgia) sometime in the draft, pushing Brandel to the limit this summer.
If Brandel gets to the regular season as the starting left guard, he must prove that the first part of his 2024 campaign, which was productive, was closer to the truth than his season’s second half, which stunk at times.
2. Jalen Nailor (WR)
On March 20th, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert tweeted, “The Vikings have agreed to terms with WR Rondale Moore, who took his first visit last week to Minnesota. He was a big-time playmaker in Arizona who suffered a serious leg injury last summer in Atlanta.”
How does this affect Nailor? Well, in theory, Moore could swipe his WR3 gig in 2025 with a productive summer.
Meanwhile, 2025 is Nailor’s final contractual year in purple, meaning he’ll need to stand off the page to merit an extension. The Vikings have long glossed over the WR3 spot, and based on recent roster construction — they’ve begun addressing areas like DT and iOL that didn’t seem important before — WR3 could be the next spot for improvement.
That would directly impact Nailor. It would not be terribly difficult to find a more efficient or high-flying WR3.
1. Ty Chandler (RB)
Disclaimer: Chandler may not make it to the regular season roster.
Minnesota pulled off a groovy trade two weeks ago for running back Jordan Mason, and he already pushed Chandler down the depth chart from RB2 to RB3.
The purple team could also draft a tailback next month, as this year’s class is well-known for halfback immortality.
This is all a roundabout way of saying that Chandler may not stay with the Vikings for long, and if he does get through the roster door in the fall, 2025 is his contract’s final year.
He’s the almighty hot-seat Viking this year.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.