The Minnesota Vikings may have an unsettled quarterback situation, but they have addressed several other needs, including the defensive line with Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen in free agency.
However, their spending spree was not without question.
ESPN’s Benjamin Solak cited the moves Allen and Hargrave, focusing on the latter, and wondered about a potential overpay.
“I didn’t love: Just how much Jonathan Allen cost. In general, double-dipping at 3-technique opposite Harrison Phillips is a shrewd approach, and both Allen and Javon Hargrave can provide an immediate impact,” Solak wrote on March 26. “I did not, however, expect Allen to tip the financial scales at $17 million per year. The entire defensive tackle market came in above my expectation, so perhaps this was just the cost of doing business.”
Per Spotrac, the Vikings have the seventh-highest payroll along their defensive line in the NFL after ranking 28th in 2024.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, Solak is not alone in his assessment.
Jonathan Allen Called Vikings’ ‘Most Overpaid Player’
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon echoes Solak’s sentiments, listing Allen as his pick for the Vikings among the NFL’s “most overpaid player” on every roster following free agency.
“At 30 and beyond his prime following consecutive declining seasons, Allen somehow landed a three-year, $51 million deal with the Vikings in free agency,” Gagnon wrote on March 26. “It’s simply way too much money considering his trajectory and recent injury situation.”
Solak did give the Vikings some grace for their approach.
“Allen is now the league’s 15th-highest-paid defensive tackle, and Hargrave ($15 million per year) is the 18th,” Solak wrote. “While Allen might have been more expensive than I expected (and Hargrave too, for that matter), the theory behind the approach is sound. I just wish it came at a smaller price tag.”
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah noted they wanted to build a roster that could support a young QB.
Bolstering a defense that ranked No. 2 against the run and fifth in scoring is one way to do that.
Jonathan Allen Looking to Make Impact
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was with the Washington Commanders organization when Allen was a rookie.
Allen spoke about that and more in an interview with Rich Eisen.
He also thanked the Commanders for releasing him and noted “culture” was “very important” to him during his free agency. The Vikings were aggressive in their pursuit of Allen, bringing him in for a workout just one day before signing him.
“Super excited – super, super excited – to be part of this new team and reuniting with Coach O’Connell,” Allen told Eisen on “The Rich Eisen Show” on March 28.
“The NFL is already hard enough, you know what I mean? Nobody wants to go to work with a organization where guys are only showing up for paychecks, they’re only worried about personal numbers and the culture is just not really what it needs to be to win. It’s hard to win without a good culture. So when I talked to Coach O’Connell and [defensive coordinator Brian] Flores, and just all the guys over there in Minnesota, it really felt like they were building something special, and they had built something special, and I just wanted to be a part of that.”
The Vikings need that excitement to translate into production in 2025 and beyond.
