The 2025 offseason strategy deployed by Vikings brass is cut and dried.

After winning 14 games last season but fading in the Wild Card round of the NFC Playoffs on neutral grass in Arizona against the Los Angeles Rams, a look in the mirror told Minnesota it needed to revamp the interior of its offensive and defensive lines. And so, that's what leadership did, with no time wasted.

When free agency opened in March, the Vikings signed center Ryan Kelly and guard Will Fries away from Indianapolis. They also got bigger in the heart of the trenches on defense, acquiring veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave after they were cap casualties and released by Washington and San Francisco.

The plan advanced into the 2025 NFL Draft, where Minnesota selected former Ohio State offensive lineman Donovan Jackson with the 24^th overall pick, rounding out the interior line ahead of J.J. McCarthy's first season as the Vikings starting QB.

As such, it seems the Vikings delivered on their intent – and took a page from Philadelphia's handbook.

Bill Barnwell of ESPN on Thursday passed out offseason superlatives to each NFC organization, and tabulated Minnesota as the club "most likely to flex on the line of scrimmage" after its series of moves.

For what it's worth, here's Barnwell's writeup of AFC offseason superlatives filed last week.

Regarding the Vikings, Barnwell paralleled General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's and Head Coach Kevin O'Connell's vision to savvy roster construction of the reigning Super Bowl champions, posing a question about philosophy that of course predates Philly: "If the Eagles are built by investing heavily on their offensive and defensive lines, shouldn't Minnesota emulate them if it wants to get there?"

Of course, it doesn't hurt to try.

In his analysis, Barnwell hinted at possible stylistic changes for both the Vikings offense and defense:

"I'm intrigued to see what it means for how the Vikings play," he wrote in reference to the upcoming season. "In 2024, they had very distinct characteristics. They threw the ball at the second-highest rate of any offense on early downs in neutral game scripts. Defensive, Coordinator Brian Flores blitzed at the league's highest rate, sending extra rushers at the opposing quarterback more than 39% of the time."

Along with increasing their mass up front, other moves (and non-moves) by the Vikings suggest potential adaptations in 2025. For starters, they brought in former 49ers running back Jordan Mason to complement Aaron Jones, Sr., in a 1A, 1B type of role. Additionally, they opted against drafting a defensive back, despite losing corners Stephon Gilmore and Shaq Griffin, and safety Camryn Bynum.

Barnwell doesn't think Minnesota needs to make sweeping philosophical changes, but he can see a world in which the Vikings lean more on their running game, and less on blitzing to affect opponents.

Here are superlatives for their division rivals: Chicago is "most likely to dial up play-action"; Detroit is "most likely to be healthier on defense"; and Green Bay is "most likely to have a logjam at wide receiver."

Cracking Top 10 complete teams

Organized Team Activities, or OTAs, are the talk of the NFL right now. But "rankings" aren't far behind.

From now until training camps begin across the league in late July, there'll be a parade of lists and leaderboards, with pundits from every corner of the 'Net supplying their takes on the "best" the NFL has to offer – from pass-rushing duos to signal-callers to trench units and coaching staffs, so on and so forth.

One ranking we find extra noteworthy was released Wednesday by NFL.com's Eric Edholm.

In an all-encompassing exercise, Edholm tried to formulate the Top 10 most complete teams for 2025.

Taking into account position groups that were graded individually and weighed based on positional importance – Edholm admittedly favored quarterbacks far more than any other spot – he came up with a ranking that isn't all surprising, but strongly reflects the job Minnesota has done in building out its roster.

Long story short, the Vikings are bordering the Top 5 in Edholm's eyes; he included them as the sixth squad on his sheet, after Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City and Buffalo.

Edholm's assessment of Minnesota started with a clever analogy and a regularly debated question:

It's difficult to precisely place the Vikings, who have a Formula 1 roster but a learner's permit driver. After being sidelined with a knee injury for all of 2024, first-year starting QB J.J. McCarthy likely holds the key for this team, which is coming off a 14-win season, but how do you properly rank a talented squad with a quarterback who has just 30 snaps in a preseason game under his belt?

Fortunately for McCarthy, his shoulders shouldn't feel so heavy due to the pieces surrounding him.

He's arguably in a better position than any of O'Connell's prior QBs here, buoyed by a stabilized offensive line, a healthy T.J. Hockenson and an ideal 1-2 punch at receiver with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Jordan Mason might also be a sneaky-big addition to the backfield next to Aaron Jones.

Similarly, Edholm lauded a Vikings front-seven "capable of controlling games," and noted if everything comes together – including maybe counting on bigger roles for returning safety Theo Jackson and new cornerback Isaiah Rodgers (who was previously with the Colts and Eagles) – the defense will be strong.

Shifting gears to uncertain territory, Edholm shared hesitation over Minnesota's special teams, which was neither great nor awful in 2024. Overall, however, he is high on McCarthy's potential thanks to an exceptional infrastructure that's been key to constructing one of the NFL's better rosters.

Edholm finished his Top 10 ranking with Tampa Bay, Green Bay, San Francisco and Denver, excluding Washington, both L.A. teams, Cincinnati and Houston – all recent playoff teams with solid quarterbacks.

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