Last year, the Vikings wrote big checks in an effort to parlay a 14-3 season from 2024 into a Super Bowl appearance. This year, the team seems to be tightening the belt.
While part of the purple people purge was sparked by the cap consequences of last year’s spending spree, the most recent move — the decision to trade defensive end Jonathan Greenard in lieu of giving him a contract with a new-money average of $25 million — seemed strange. With the top of the new-money market now at $50 million annually, the Vikings couldn’t find a way to give Greenard half of that?
The situation is prompting speculation that a sale of the team could be coming. And it elevated from scattered chatter to a column from Charley Walters in the St. Paul Pioneer Press with a fairly blunt headline: “Are the Wilfs getting ready to sell the Vikings?”
The most obvious evidence to support that conclusion comes from the $124 million drop in cash spending from one year to the next, with a league-high $350 million in 2025 becoming $226 million in 2027, second lowest in the NFL.
The new Walters column picks through a variety of decisions the Vikings have made this offseason, but it includes no reporting to suggest that Zygi and Mark Wilf, who bought the team in 2005, are thinking about cashing out.
While the ever-inflating values of NFL franchises could tempt more than a few current owners to take $10 billion or more and run, there’s not enough there to justify a conclusion that this is anything other than a cap correction after the Vikings overplayed their hand in 2025, due primarily to the very bad decision(s) made about the most important position on the team.
Minnesota’s 2025 miscues cost G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job. Waiting to search for his replacement until May surely wasn’t about saving four months of General Manager salary. It made sense to stay the course through free agency and the draft, especially if coach Kevin O’Connell emerged from 2025 with more juice in the organization.
If, as we believe, O’Connell was sounding the alarm about not having a veteran quarterback who could step in and play if J.J. McCarthy didn’t instantly fulfill his potential, KOC was proven right. Throw in the fact that he managed to get the team to turn the page immediately on a 26-0 embarrassment in Seattle with a 31-0 win over Washington and four more in a row after that to end the season (including a Christmas Day carving of the Lions’ playoff chances), O’Connell may have more sway than ever.
While no one will objectively conclude that the Minnesota roster screams out “Super Bowl contender” for 2026, the spending decisions don’t immediately point to a potential sale of the team. Still, perception is reality. With the hypothesis morphing into the beginnings of a theory, it could be time for the Wilfs to make the case publicly that they aren’t getting ready to pound a “For Sale” sign in the front yard.
Next year’s draft will happen in D.C. The location of the draft after that has yet to be determined.
Signs are pointing to the Twin Cities.
Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal reports that Minnesota is the “clear favorite” to host the 2028 draft.
Minnesota submitted a bid in March. The three-day process would center on U.S. Bank Stadium. Other events would happen in St. Paul, at the Mall of America, and in the Viking Lakes development around the team’s headquarters in Eagan.
The league’s events committee is due to meet next week regarding the 2028 draft. An ownership vote is expected at the next ownership meeting, on May 19 and 20 in Orlando.
The draft became a road show in 2015. As it continues to draw more and more people (regardless of any embellishment of the official numbers), it will become more and more attractive to numerous cities.
Since the draft left New York City, it has been hosted by Chicago (twice), Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Detroit, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh.
The Vikings signed defensive lineman Eric Johnson on Wednesday, the team announced.
Johnson, 27, spent last season with the Colts. He played 12 games, seeing action on 131 defensive snaps and 16 on special teams, and totaled six tackles.
He entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Colts in 2022.
Johnson spent his first two seasons in Indianapolis before the Patriots claimed him off waivers out of the preseason in 2024. He played 11 games for New England.
Johnson rejoined the Colts in May 2025 when they claimed him off waivers from the Patriots.
He has appeared in 51 games, recording 41 tackles, including two for loss, with one sack, three quarterback hits and one fumble recovery.
After the Vikings made the belated decision to fire G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah beyond the normal post-season pink-slip window, the Vikings did not embark on a search to hire a new General Manager.
They are now.
Owners Mark and Zygi Wilf have announced that the process has begun.
“With the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft, our search for the next general manager of the Minnesota Vikings is underway,” the Wilfs said in a statement. “This will be a thorough and deliberate process led by ownership, with support from a small internal advisory committee of senior leaders. We have also engaged respected firm TurnkeyZRG to assist in conducting a wide-ranging search that includes experienced football executives, emerging candidates, and individuals with diverse professional backgrounds.
“Our focus is to identify a decisive leader with a clear vision for team building, strong communication skills, and the ability to build alignment across an organization. Out of respect for all involved, we do not intend to publicly announce candidates and will provide further comment when the search is complete.”
Even if they won’t be publicly announcing candidates, any requests made for permission to speak to employees currently working for other teams inevitably will be leaked to the media.
Without a G.M., Vikings executive V.P. of football operations Rob Brzezinski led the draft and free agency process. He could potentially be a candidate to assume the G.M. role.
The overriding question is whether coach Kevin O’Connell will emerge from the process with greater influence over the roster. That will make the specific terms of the G.M. job critical — and it will potentially impact Minnesota’s ability to interview and hire candidates under contract with other teams.
Either way, the search has begun for a new General Manager in Minnesota. At a minimum, they’ll need someone who will work well with O’Connell and the coaching staff.
Alignment is the key. With it, a team has a chance. Without it, a team has no shot.
Receiver Jauan Jennings may be getting closer to finding a new team.
Jennings is visiting with the Vikings on Tuesday night and Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Jennings, 28, had spent his entire career with the 49ers, with the club having selected him in the seventh round of the 2020 draft. Jennings played 75 games with 32 starts for San Francisco, including 55 receptions for 643 yards with nine touchdowns in 2025.
The Vikings did not select a receiver in this year’s draft over the weekend, which puts them in the market for more depth at the position.
