Bullet point summary by AI
- New Vikings GM Nolan Teasley faces critical offseason decisions with much of the team-building already complete.
- The team’s immediate priorities include evaluating its quarterback room and addressing safety depth with limited options.
- Teasley must also navigate contract extensions for key players before the 2026 season begins.
The Minnesota Vikings have a new general manager! After going through free agency and the draft without one, the team closed out May by hiring Nolan Teasley from the Seattle Seahawks front office. Teasley enters the job at a strange time, since much of the offseason team-building work is over.
However, that doesn’t mean Teasley can just sit back and wait for next offseason. There’s still work to be done if the Vikings want to bounce back in 2026.
Figure out the future of the quarterback position
Okay, so this is really more of an existential question than it is a practical one. There’s not really much that Teasley can do at the moment about this situation, aside from keeping a close eye on every offseason practice to get the best sense he can of where the team stands.
Obviously, what happens on the field will be the final determining factor about who the Vikings quarterback will be in 2027. Whoever wins the starting job between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy has to show he deserved to win the job.
But even the idea that one of them will win the job changes how you approach the future. The method by which one of those players claims the role matters here. If Murray wins it because he’s actually just still a really good quarterback, that’s one thing. If McCarthy backs into it because both guys struggle and he struggles less, that’s another, and it all changes how the Vikings will think about the role. I also wouldn’t rule out Minnesota adding someone else to the room if it becomes clear McCarthy isn’t going to have a shot at the job and the team decides to give him a fresh start via trade.
The Harrison Smith decision
Long-time Vikings safety Harrison Smith remains a free agent. 2025 seemed like it was his last year in the NFL, but Smith hasn’t announced his retirement and the Vikings could still use help at safety. Should Minnesota make a concerted effort to coax him back for another season?
It’s hard to imagine Smith playing anywhere other than Minnesota. In fact, I’d argue that if he were going to do that, he’d have already signed elsewhere. This feels like a situation where Smith is either going to return to the Vikings or retire, and there’s been talk that he’s been in touch with some people around the organization.
If you’re Minnesota, you probably want an answer to this question soon. The team drafted Jakobe Thomas in the third round, but looks to be going into 2026 with Joshua Metellus and Jay Ward as the starting safeties. Not the end of the world, but even at his current age, Smith would help a lot. If he wants to come back, the Vikings should make that happen…but if this becomes an Aaron Rodgers-style stalemate, Minnesota might opt to move on and add a different safety before the season.
Is there an edge rusher worth adding this summer?
Minnesota still has a decent bit of cap space once June 1 cuts go through, though not a ton. There’s probably enough, though, to add another edge rusher to help bolster the defense. The question is, who?
If you’ve read my work at FanSided in the past, you’re going to roll your eyes here and saying something like WE GET IT, JUSTIN, but I really think any team in need of pass-rushing help needs to get on the phone with Cameron Jordan’s agent.
The 36-year-old recorded 10.5 sacks last season but remains unsigned. Maybe this is a Harrison Smith situation where he’s waiting things out before either retiring or returning to the Saints, but even if it is that, it can’t hurt to try, and if you get rebuffed then you can turn to the rest of the list of still-available edge rushers.
Potential contract extensions
One thing that Teasley will have to do quickly is decide on whether or not to extend the deals of some impending free agents, locking them up before the season so that the team won’t have to worry about those players hitting the open market.
Offensive tackle Brian O’Neill is a prime extension candidate, as the two-time Pro Bowler has spent all eight seasons of his NFL career with Minnesota. He’s also missed time in two of the past three seasons, though, and will be 32 years old for the 2027 season, when an extension would kick in. There are certainly arguments for and against an extension for O’Neill, and that’s going to be one of the first things Teasley has to decide.
Then there’s tight end T.J. Hockenson. He’s a good player, but the Vikings are spending a lot of money on weapons for whoever the quarterback is. If Hockenson wants a big-money deal as well, does it start to reach a point where you’re not spending wisely by doing so? If he walks, though, how do you go about replacing him? The draft? A cheaper free agent next spring?
On defense, the biggest decision will on Blake Cashman, though Andrew Van Ginkel is also a candidate to be extended. Teasley has to figure out what his vision for the future of the Vikings looks like, and he’ll have to do it quickly. It’s rare to see a GM hiring at this point in the offseason, so these choices have to be made fairly swiftly.
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