EAGAN, Minn. — Football is often said to start up front.
So did the Vikings initial wave of free agency this year.
Minnesota added defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, as well as offensive linemen Ryan Kelly and Will Fries.
That's 375 career regular-season starts and eight combined Pro Bowls (two each for Allen and Hargrave and four for Kelly; Fries, who just completed his rookie deal, is believed to be ascending) among the four additions.
Allen (with the Commanders) and Hargrave (as an Eagle) started alongside each other in the 2022 Pro Bowl, and they're ready to wreak havoc in Brian Flores' defense.
Allen (42 sacks, 60 tackles for loss and 118 QB hits) and Hargrave (45.5 sacks, 55 TFL and 79 QB hits) have proven histories of playing well against the run and pressuring quarterbacks.
Vikings Entertainment Network's Tatum Everett caught up with General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Head Coach Kevin O'Connell to talk about the additions to the line of scrimmage.
"That's a position on the front where some of these great scheme play callers like Kevin want to attack you in base downs, and you maybe don't have your elite pass rush group on the field, so you need defensive interior players who are able to stop the run but also transition and are athletic enough to get after the passer, maybe limit some of these explosive plays these great guys can get against you," Adofo-Mensah said. "It's really an important thing. If you look at all great teams, they're really great in the front from different places, so we're excited about what we were able to add.
"You talk about Hargrave and the infectious way he plays football," Adofo-Mensah added. "I think that's going to elevate that group, and Jonathan Allen is a pro's pro. Honestly, he's been on our radar for a couple of years, and we're excited to add him."
O'Connell called Allen and Hargrave "proven disruptors."
"I think people may be underestimating their impact when you think about what we did on the edges last year with [Jonathan] Greenard, [Andrew] Van Ginkel, drafting Dallas Turner, who is going to have a great second year as a Minnesota Viking," O'Connell said. "Then Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace, Jr., you're really starting to talk about a front that is as formidable as anybody in the National Football League."
Hargrave said the Vikings are "definitely beefing up" the offensive line and defensive line.
"Everywhere [I've played], everybody emphasized the trenches," the former Steeler, Eagle and 49er said. "So you just see them making a real emphasis of just getting deep in the trenches, so that just kind of got me excited about being here. Because, like I said, in Philly, Pittsburgh, San Fran, they all believe in the same thing."
Allen first entered the NFL in 2017 as the 17th overall pick. After wrapping his eighth NFL season by helping Washington advance to the NFC Championship Game, Allen became a free agent upon his release by the Commanders.
He and the Vikings moved quickly. Powerfully. Confidently.
Similar attributes to what he's shown throughout his career. Now he wants to deliver on the Vikings commitment to the line of scrimmage.
"Whenever an organization brings you in and pays us the way you have, it's definitely a lot of – I don't want to say pressure, but I put a lot of responsibility on myself to prove them right, in a sense," Hargrave said. "They don't give out contracts like this easily. So I think for me, my job's to go in there from day one and prove my worth to the fans and to the coaches for believing in me. One thing I always say is you're going to get everything I've got — good, bad or indifferent — so I'm looking forward to going out there and helping this team continue to be the dominant, successful defense it's been."
The 2024 Vikings went 14-3 for the second most wins in a season in franchise history. The team ranked ninth in points for and fifth in points against.
Minnesota's defense ranked first with 24 interceptions and second in rushing yards allowed last season. But the team, which ranked 10th in sacks/pass attempt at 7.41 percent, could benefit from more sacks by interior defensive linemen to further diversify the attack.
The Vikings offense ranked sixth in passing yards per game but 23rd in sacks allowed per attempt with a percentage of 8.94 percent.
Kelly and Fries will be tasked with helping lower that percentage and create opportunities in the run game. They anticipate some great training camp reps in their preparation to face waves of pressure from the interior.
"Jonathan's a great player, a couple years younger than me at Alabama, but I just remember going against that defensive line when I was in college, and it also made me a better player," Kelly said of his former Crimson Tide and current teammate. "I'm sure he'd say the same thing. And so to see him again, a familiar face in a new place, is always a great thing. And it'll be great to go against him every single day in practice. It makes us all better.
"As far as the interior of the offensive and defensive line, the league is always progressing, added Kelly, a 2016 first-round pick (18th overall) of Indianapolis. "When I first came in, it was the true seven-man protection, and it was big tight ends and all that. And in a way, offenses always evolved, and they've kind of followed a little bit of college and now it's more spread out. But at the end of the day, I think if you watch teams who win and win consistently, it's all about running the ball, having a balanced attack, and then the defensive lines that are the best, they're able to stop it right? Like there's nowhere to run inside.
"You get a team in the second-, third-and-long, and now you're Brian Flores' defense, and you don't know where the pressure is coming from, and that's how you win games, right? So to invest in both sides of that, I think, is a team that understands that there's the mentality of a team wins up front, whether that's both sides of the ball, if you can stop the ball on defense, you put teams in a hard position to score points," Kelly continued. "On offense, you have to run the ball. You have to protect well. It's not always about the receivers, right? Like, if the quarterback doesn't have time, who cares, right? In Indy, we always had the saying, 'As o-line goes, the offense goes.' I think that was always in the back of our mind when we went to a game, was, 'No matter what happens, it's on us.' And that's the burden that the offensive line carries, right? We're sometimes the first people to take the criticism, last people to get the praise, right? That's what you sign up for. That's why the offensive line is so tightly knit. So speaking for an offensive line perspective, that's what makes us who we are, and that's the mentality we'll bring this year."
Fries described Flores' scheme as "complex" and added it "provides a lot of different obstacles" and "makes you think mentally as much as it does in challenging you physically."
"Getting to compete against them, you know, all spring and summer will make us battle-tested for the year," Fries said.
Those reps also will be important in connecting Kelly and Fries with the offensive line, where the goal is to have five players functioning as one unit.
"It's important to me that be able to build that trust with Brian O'Neill and Christian Darrisaw and Blake [Brandel] and all those guys," Fries said. "I want to be able for them to be trustful in me, know I'm going to do my job and know I can rely on them. So it's really about building that trust, the communication, and then it's just, you've got to put your hand in the ground and make a stand at some point. Part of it is just mental and physical, and you have to take a stand and know that you're not going to lose this battle. You don't have to overcomplicate it. Just a couple of simple things done really well."
The Vikings liked what they saw from both players during film evaluation. Once Kelly agreed to terms, he helped recruit "Spud," the nickname he bestowed on Fries early in Indy.
"We ended up with two foundational guys inside there that are going to help make our team better," O'Connell said. "We wanted to go into the offseason with a clear purpose and plan of getting bigger and stronger up front and a little more dynamic on both the o-line and d-line, and we were able to do that on both sides of the ball."
Adofo-Mensah noted that Fries "is a Jersey guy like I am, so we were recruiting him pretty hard, and he had some great options."
"Ryan was like, 'This is a great place. Let's go do this together.' Being able to add them both is something we're excited about, not only from a play standpoint but the character they bring to that room."
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