The NFL Combine is underway.

Today they have the medicals, team interviews, and pre-exam for the defensive linemen, linebackers, and dudes that put their foot on the ball.

Here is a list of the invites …

NFL combine: Full list of draft prospects invited to 2025 scouting event

Here are a few players that I really liked this year from what I saw …

Warren Brinson, Georgia, DL

Alfred Collins, Texas, DL

Derrick Harmon, Oregon, DL

Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech, DL

JJ Pegues, Mississippi, DL

Ty Robinson, Nebraska, DL

Tyleik Williams, Ohio State, DL

Carson Bruener, Washington, LB

Francisco Mauigoa, Miami, LB

Chris Paul Jr., Mississippi, LB

Jahdae Barron, Texas, DB

Mello Dotson, Kansas, DB

Jordan Hancock, Ohio State, DB

Andrew Mukuba, Texas, DB

Jaylin Smith, USC, DB

Xavier Watts, Notre Dame, DB

Hunter Wohler, Wisconsin, DB

Donovan Jackson, Ohio State, OG

Jake Majors, Texas, OC

Jonah Monheim, USC, OC

Jonah Savaiinaea, Arizona, OG

Cam Skattebo, Arizona State

Devin Neal, Kansas

Jordan James, Oregon

Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

Omarion Hampton, North Carolina

Xavier Restrepo, Miami, WR

Mason Taylor, LSU, TE

Gunnar Helm, Texas, TE

Who will you be checking out?

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Minnesota Vikings News and Links

Minnesota Vikings GM vows to ‘really aggressively attack’ free agency

“We know what we need to improve,” Adofo-Mensah said Wednesday on KFAN-FM 100.3 when asked about his approach to free agency. “We’re going to be intentional about attacking the things we need to get better at. That’s not just gonna be one thing—we’re going to really aggressively attack it because we believe in turning potential weaknesses into strengths, and that’s how we’re approaching the offseason.”

Adofo-Mensah made it clear Tuesday in Indy that the defensive line’s also on the fix-it list.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re trying to be one of those last four teams standing, then one of the final two. To play January football, there’s a certain way you gotta play. You gotta control the ball on offense, and you gotta get after the passer—sometimes with just four,” he said.

“I think these are things we all know. I’ve been on teams that had that, but when you’re building over two- or three-year horizons, you’re always juggling needs. This is probably one area where we need to get better, and we’ll hit it from different angles.”

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NFL insider: Sam Darnold ‘the best QB available’—will Vikings cash in?

“It seems to me, based on my conversations, that in this offseason, of the quarterbacks available, Sam Darnold seems to be the best,” Ian Rapoport said from the NFL Combine on Tuesday.

“Darnold seems to be the dude. The Vikings have him. If they want him to be the starter, they could do that. That’s not that hard. They could tag him, or they could reach a new deal based around the tag. If they want J.J. McCarthy to be their starter, they are in an unbelievable position, just being able to hold onto [Darnold] and say, ‘You wanna get him? Come get him.’ We haven’t seen this a lot.”

“Yeah, we’re still in that place where we’re having all these discussions. Every option is afforded to us,” Adofo-Mensah said. “So right now, we’re in a position where we have options, and we’ll continue to work those options and figure out the best way for the Vikings to move forward.”

In losses to the Lions and Rams in Week 18 and the playoffs, respectively, Darnold couldn’t handle the relentless pressure. He completed a combined 43-of-81 passes and was sacked 11 times, including nine in the playoff loss to Los Angeles.

“That was really kind of the core of our offseason—really thinking through that holistically. Not trying to be overweighted by those eight quarters but also not underweighting those last two games,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Really, he played a lot of good football for us in Year 1 of the system, so you can expect more later. We’re excited [for] the potential for Sam, whatever that ends up being. It’s a tough exercise.”

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Sam Darnold tag-and-trade: Vikings’ premium draft hopes could flop

Rumors are roaring at the NFL Scouting Combine, and Sam Darnold seems to be at the center of it all. While the Vikings say all options are on the table, most of the buzz in Indianapolis swirls around Minnesota franchise-tagging Darnold and trading him.

If the Vikings do pull off a tag-and-trade with Darnold, don’t get your hopes up for a first- or second-round pick in return.

“If there is a tag-and-trade, the pick is probably not a first- or second-rounder,” Alec Lewis, who covers the Vikings for The Athletic, said Wednesday on radio row. “Could you get a third-rounder for Sam Darnold? Could you get a fourth-rounder? I think with this team having only four picks in this upcoming draft, adding a fourth-rounder now, as opposed to a third-round comp pick later, is a move you have to make. I’m in alignment with the people who think a tag-and-trade makes sense.”

Lewis’s take lines up with what NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said Tuesday.

“It’s like a comp pick, plus-plus,” Rapoport noted. “Amazing situation for the Vikings if they’re comfortable enough with J.J. McCarthy as their guy. They can just auction off Sam Darnold and go, ‘Come pay for him.’”

Other teams possibly hunting for a QB include the Jets, Steelers, Browns, Titans, Giants, Saints, Seahawks, and Rams. Here’s where those teams sit in the second, third, and fourth rounds:

Titans key picks: 2nd (35), 4th (102, 119)

Browns key picks: 2nd (33), 3rd (67, 94), 4th (103)

Giants key picks: 2nd (34), 3rd (65), 4th (104, 134)

Jets key picks: 2nd (42), 3rd (92), 4th (109)

Saints key picks: 2nd (40), 3rd (71, 93), 4th (111, 130)

Seahawks key picks: 2nd (50), 3rd (82), 4th (137)

Steelers key picks: 2nd (52), 3rd (83), 4th (122)

Rams key picks: 3rd (90, 100), 4th (126)

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Chiefs $105 million Pro Bowler predicted to ditch KC for Vikings in free agency

Trey Smith, the 25-year-old Chiefs right guard, is getting set to hit free agency in March. Coming off his first Pro Bowl appearance and already the owner of two Super Bowl rings, Smith is going to be the most coveted names in all of football this spring.

On Wednesday, Advance Local’s Scott Engel predicted that Smith would sign with the Minnesota Vikings, who could be an intriguing sleeper among more obvious suitors like the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.

“If (Ronnie) Staley goes back to (the Baltimore Ravens), Smith might be the priority for Chicago to address its significant offensive line concerns,” Engel wrote. “Otherwise, Minnesota needs to bolster its interior, and New England and (the Tennessee Titans) could enter the picture here, too.”

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Rumor: DT Jonathan Allen ‘would have interest’ in playing for Vikings

News broke on Tuesday morning that Washington Commanders defensive tackle and two-time Pro Bowler Jonathan Allen has been granted permission to seek a trade. The Vikings happen to have a significant need at that position, and according to KSTP’s Darren Wolfson, Allen would have interest in playing for Minnesota.

“Here’s what I would tell you. My sense is that he would have all sorts of interest in being a Minnesota Viking,” Wolfson said on SKOR North. “A lot of players would have interest in being a Viking. They’ve set up an infrastructure here that lends itself to a lot of players having interest in being here. Whether the Vikings want to play ball, whether the Vikings reciprocate that interest, remains to be seen. But to suggest that Allen would have interest in the Vikings, I would say you are accurate in doing so.”

As pointed out by KFAN’s Ben Leber, Allen is represented by Blake Baratz of the Minneapolis-based agency IFA, who also represents Adam Thielen, C.J. Ham, and others. So that’s another potential connection to the Vikings.

With that said, going after Allen probably doesn’t make much sense for the Vikings. It certainly wouldn’t happen via trade, given that the Vikings don’t have draft picks to give up and won’t want to take on the $16 million or so that would come with the final year of his contract. If the Commanders can’t find a trade for Allen — which seems fairly likely — they’ll presumably release him. At that point, the Vikings could potentially have interest, but it would have to be at the right price.

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Will Vikings hand keys over to J.J. McCarthy? Intel from the NFL Combine

As rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy recovered from his torn meniscus last season, the Vikings felt it was important for him to get a firsthand look at his future. So as soon as he was physically able, he attended the games.

After he reportedly lost more than 20 pounds last season, largely because he put strength training on hold as he rehabbed his torn meniscus, a source told the Pioneer Press that McCarthy is back over 200 pounds.

That’s good news for the Vikings, because they need to decide if they are ready to hand the keys over to McCarthy with veteran quarterback Sam Darnold set to become a free agent next month.

“He’s doing really well from the standpoint of where he has progressed to in his rehab,” O’Connell said. “He’s in a phase now where he’s got his sights set on that offseason program start date and getting off to a great start there.”

The biggest thing the Vikings have working in their favor when it comes to McCarthy is that they poured so much into last season despite the fact that he didn’t play a single snap after being injured in a preseason game.

The use of virtual reality played a major role in McCarthy’s development as he would often watch practice clips filmed via a GoPro camera attached to the top of Darnold’s helmet. That helped simulate what it was like for McCarthy to be on the field, even if he wasn’t actually able to be on the field.

“The physical reps and being out there playing are always the No. 1 way to advance forward,” O’Connell said. “How do we kind of offset some of that?”

“You want to be able to go out there and play free and let the talent take over,” Adofo-Mensah said. “All of these steps and the learning he has done in this past year is going to allow him to be able to do that. We’re excited about the makeup of him. He has been everything we want him to be, and we’re excited about his future.”

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Jim Harbaugh compares Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy to Chargers’ Justin Herbert

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has been around some great quarterbacks in his coaching career, dating back to his time coaching Andrew Luck at Stanford. Most recently, he coached J.J. McCarthy for three years at Michigan before taking the Chargers job and working with Justin Herbert last year.

On Tuesday, in an interview with NFL on NBC, Harbaugh said his two most recent starting quarterbacks have a lot in common with one another.

“He’s so much like Justin Herbert in the energy they bring, the tone-setters,” Harbaugh said of McCarthy. “J.J.’s a tone-setter, brings the energy, great talent, and every fiber of his being is about helping his team. Justin is a perfectionist as well, him and J.J. are a lot the same in that way. They want to be good, they want to be great, and it’s not in a self-promotion way, like they want to be great for themselves. They want to be great for their teammates.”

Harbaugh may be a bit biased, but he’s a big believer in McCarthy as a person and as a quarterback. He said numerous times last year that McCarthy was the best QB in the 2024 draft, and then noted that he landed in the perfect spot when he was drafted tenth overall by Minnesota.

“J.J. has attacked his rehab this entire last six, seven months, and I can guarantee Vikings fans that he is up and at it today, attacking the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind,” Harbaugh said, using one of his trademarked phrases. “I love him. I’m not gonna love playing against him, we play the Vikings this year. There’s gonna be a part of me, though…”

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An Offseason Plan

.

Starting Cap Space

2025: $63,332,543

2026: $107,008,844

.

Franchise tag Sam Darnold and trade him to Raiders for pick #68 and #209

Cut Ed Ingram (saves 3.325M)

Cut CJ Ham (saves 2.65M)

.

Extend/Redo Brian O’Neill 2 yr 32M (saves 7M in 2025 & 2M in 2026)

Extend Josh Oliver – 3 yr 21M (saves 3M)

Extend Theo Jackson – 2 yr 6M

Extend Byron Murphy – 3 yr 54M

Extend Daniel Jones – 1 yr 14M

Extend Cam Akers – 1 yr 1.67M

…

Sign Jevon Holland (S) – 4 yr 87M

Sign Teair Tart (DT) – 2 yr 10M

Sign Michael Hoecht (DE) – 2 yr 12M

Sign Isaiah Rodgers (CB) – 2 yr 5.5M

Sign Jourdan Lewis (CB) – 2 yr 7M

Sign Tyrell Dodson (LB) – 2 yr 12M

Sign Dillon Radunz (OL) – 2 yr 7M

…

Ending Cap Space

2025: $35,822,543

2026: $34,907,844

…

Plenty of cap space to make other moves and to decide what to do with Harrison Smith who will either retire, be cut, or get extended. They can still bring back Aaron Jones under this plan too.

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Yore Mock

Trades

Trade Partner: Las Vegas Raiders

Sent: Sam Darnold

Received: Round 3 Pick 4, Round 6 Pick 34

…

Trade Partner: Buffalo Bills

Sent: Round 1 Pick 24, Round 3 Pick 97

Received: Round 1 Pick 30, Round 2 Pick 62, Round 4 Pick 131

…

Trade Partner: Carolina Panthers

Sent: Round 3 Pick 68, Round 5 Pick 140

Received: Round 3 Pick 74, Round 4 Pick 113, Round 5 Pick 147

…

Trade Partner: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Sent: Round 3 Pick 74

Received: Round 3 Pick 83, Round 4 Pick 120

…

R1: 30 Shemar Stewart EDGE Texas A&M 6’6” 290

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R2: 62 Donovan Jackson OG Ohio State 6’4” 320

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R3: 83 Deone Walker DT Kentucky 6’6” 345

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R4: 113 RJ Harvey RB UCF 5’9” 208

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R4: 120 Jaylin Noel WR Iowa State 5’11” 200

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R4: 131 Jaxson Dart QB Ole Miss 6’2” 225

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R5: 147 Jaylin Smith CB USC 5’11” 190

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R5: 161 Jonah Monheim OL USC 6’5” 310

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R6: 218 Oronde Gadsden II TE Syracuse 6’5” 310

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