Minnesota Vikings Bringing Back Young Interior Defensive Lineman
The Minnesota Vikings are trying to pull themselves together, after an abrupt ending to their magical 2024 season. And really, what other option do they have? The world keeps spinning, no matter what reality hits you with.
That is especially true in the NFL, where there really is no offseason. Yeah, baseball was once America’s pastime; and sure, the NBA may have figured out the TV revenue thing first… but one reason why the NFL has risen to power over the last two decades is its ability to stay the sports news cycle year-round, whether games are being played or not.
Minnesota Vikings re-sign Jalen Redmond
On Wednesday, head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah met with reporters for their 2024 exit interviews. Beforehand, the Vikings’ front office had already inked and announced its first notable move of the 2025 offseason, the re-signing of interior defensive lineman Jalen Redmond.
The #Vikings have re-signed DL Jalen Redmond. pic.twitter.com/CJNT0c8o3W
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 16, 2025
Redmond, who is closing in on his 26th birthday, is two offseasons removed from signing with the Carolina Panthers as a 2023 undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma. After he failed to find the field or an NFL home during his rookie season, Jalen found what he was looking for with the Minnesota Vikings.
After signing on late, Jalen Redmond ended up playing in 13 regular season games for the Vikings, totalling 18 tackles, 6 TFL, 1 QB Hit, 1 Sack and 1 Pass Defended. If you include the 28 snaps he played during last weekend’s Wild Card game vs the Rams, Jalen Redmond played 236 defensive snaps in purple last season.
That’s good for 5th most of any interior defensive lineman on the Vikings roster. Redmond’s PFF grade of 75.6 is far and away the best of any Minnesota defensive tackle with more than 100 defensive snaps.
| 2024 Vikings iDL | Games | Snaps | PFF Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harrison Phillips | 18 | 701 | 58.3 |
| Jonathan Bullard | 18 | 590 | 55.1 |
| Jihad Ward | 18 | 505 | 51.5 |
| Jerry Tillery | 18 | 482 | 50.2 |
| Jalen Redmond | 14 | 236 | 75.6 |
Vikings intentionally jump the gun on “exclusive rights free agent”
The sample size is smaller than the other four interior defensive linemen who received more playing time than he did, and not everyone trusts Pro Football Focus… but clearly, the Minnesota Vikings saw exactly what PFF did during the 2024 season, which is why they jumped at an opportunity to re-sign him.
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The Vikings had all the leverage, though. Redmond was set to be an “exclusive rights free agent” at the beginning of the new league year, in March. Instead, he and the Vikings came to terms on a fresh new deal. We do not yet know the details of Jalen Redmond’s new contract. When those details become available, they will be here.
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