Most Minnesota Vikings fans hoped the offseason would hold off until late January or early February, but the team’s loss in Arizona on Monday night whisked the offseason to the forefront this week.
Vikings Signings: 13 Players Added for 2025
The Los Angeles Rams eliminated the purple team from the playoffs, ending a 14-3 season that once seemed promising.
Therefore, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah got back to work this week, and his first order of business involved signing 13 players to futures contracts. It’s a regular practice among all NFL teams and typically serves as a tool to re-sign practice squad players.
The Vikings were no different. Eleven of the 13 lived on the 2024 practice squad. Here’s the full list:
- Travis Bell (DL)
- Henry Byrd (OG)
- Jonathan Harris (DL)
- Kahlef Hailassie (CB)
- Lucky Jackson (WR)
- Marcellus Johnson (OT)
- Gabriel Murphy (OLB)
- Brett Rypien (QB)
- Zavier Scott (RB)
- Reddy Steward (CB)
- Thayer Thomas (WR)
- Max Tooley (LB)
- Leroy Watson (OT)
Most of the men on the list — Bell, Byrd, Harris, Jackson, Johnson, Tooley, and Watson — are fairly standard or mundane signings, men who will inhabit the practice squad again in 2025 if they make it through the spring and summer.
Others, however, are a bit more noteworthy. Hailassie is brand new to the Vikings and is just 24 years old. He’s played just over 100 defensive snaps in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns in 2023 and 2024. He could possibly have some staying power with more NFL action than most on the list.
Murphy, an undrafted free agent EDGE rusher from last year’s class, has a high-profile UDFA resume. Some envisioned him as “this year’s Ivan Pace Jr.” when Minnesota signed him last April. Injuries derailed most of his rookie season.
Rypien served as the Vikings’ QB3 for most of the season. He and J.J. McCarthy are the only quarterbacks attached to Minnesota’s books for the 2025 season, at least on January 16th. Rypien will likely compete for a QB2 or QB3 assignment this summer.
Scott is fascinating because Ty Chandler is the only running back under contract in 2025 for Minnesota. In theory, he could get frisky and compete for RB3 next season.
Steward might be the splashiest name. Chicago Bears fans fell in love with him during the preseason because of a two-interception game and pick-six. He saw regular season action in one game this season and promptly forced a fumble on Arizona Cardinals wideout Marvin Harrison Jr.
Finally, Vikings coaches have spoken highly of Thayer Thomas, a wide receiver, in back-to-back offseasons. He’s back, too.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for Vikings’ signings. The club has about $70 million in cap space to spend on free agents in March as dead money from Kirk Cousins + Danielle Hunter’s contracts falls off the books. In theory, if Minnesota re-signed Sam Darnold to a large extension, most of the oft-mentioned cap space would slip away.
NFL free agency is less than eight weeks away.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
