Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell was pleased to announce today that three injured players have recovered well enough to be on the practice field for the start of training camp.
O’Connell credited left tackle Christian Darrisaw, right guard Will Fries and wide receiver Rondale Moore for working hard to get themselves physically prepared to practice, even though they won’t necessarily be practicing at 100 percent from Day One.
“Christian Darrisaw and Rondale Moore and Will Fries all not going on PUP to start. Those guys have all — I want to highlight the work they’ve put in this summer to put themselves in a position to be out on the grass practicing, all in different capacities,” O’Connell said. “We are very pleased with where those guys are at and their timelines to fully returning to daily participation. We have great plans on the calendar for those guys and cannot wait to see that come to fruition. Just want to highlight once again the work those guys put in to get ready for this season.”
Darrisaw had a season-ending knee injury while playing for the Vikings in October. Fries signed with the Vikings this offseason after suffering a broken tibia while playing for the Colts in October. Moore signed with the Vikings this offseason after missing the entire 2024 season following a training camp injury with the Falcons.
The Saints have agreed to terms with veteran defensive end Jonathan Bullard, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports.
Bullard visited with the Saints last month, and his signing will reunite him with Brandon Staley, an assistant with the Bears when Bullard played in Chicago in 2017-18.
Bullard, 31, spent the past three seasons with the Vikings. In 2024, he started all 17 games, recording 41 total tackles with seven for loss, three quarterback hits and one sack. He was on the field for 51 percent of the club’s defensive snaps.
In 116 career games, with 53 starts, Bullard has recorded 221 total tackles with 6.5 sacks.
The Vikings finished the regular season tied for the second-best record in the NFC last year, but because they didn’t win their division, they were the No. 5 seed. That meant they opened the playoffs on the road. And Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson has a problem with that.
Jefferson was asked in an interview with Yahoo Sports whether wild card teams with better records should have home-field advantage in the playoffs, and he answered, “Yes.”
“With the season that we had last year, to go and play away, it definitely was a little different,” Jefferson said. “It definitely needs to go into consideration and something that we need to figure out because having 14 wins . . . normally doesn’t go to play away in the playoffs.”
Jefferson acknowledged that his team had the chance to take care of business when the Vikings faced the Lions with the No. 1 seed on the line in the final game of the regular season.
“We definitely had the opportunity to play home field with the last game in Detroit, but even losing that we still felt like we should’ve had home-field advantage,” Jefferson said. “But even not having home-field advantage is never an excuse. It’s something we had to deal with and we wish we would’ve had home field but it is what it is.”
The Lions offered a proposal this offseason that would have changed playoff seeding, but it didn’t have enough support to pass. Which means a division winner with a losing record can still host a playoff game, and a wild card team with the second-best record in the conference can still have to play on the road.
Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison was set to go to trial on a DUI charge this week, but the case has been resolved through a plea arrangement.
Addison’s agent Tim Younger announced that his client has agreed to a plea on a lesser charge in order to settle the case. The lesser charge, known as a wet reckless, carries a sentence that includes a fine and mandates that Addison complete two online courses in order to end a probation period after six months.
Younger added that Addison has attended courses and events held by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and that he has kept the Vikings apprised of all developments throughout the case.
With the legal process completed, the next issue for Addison will be NFL discipline. A three-game suspension without pay is generally the league’s penalty in cases involving driving under the influence and the wet reckless plea acknowledges that Addison was under the influence at the time of his arrest.
One of the keys to the 2025 Vikings season is the development of quarterback J.J. McCarthy and his top target is taking a hands on role in making sure that the 2024 first-round pick is ready to go.
Wide receiver Justin Jefferson didn’t get much time to work with McCarthy before the quarterback’s season-ending knee injury in the preseason last year and he’s working to strengthen their connection this offseason. Jefferson told Jason Fitz of Yahoo Sports that he is “trying to make him dialed in every chance that I can” in hopes of building up the quarterback’s confidence ahead of his first regular season action.
“Our lockers are right next to each other, so every chance that I get to talk to him about football, about anything that goes on outside of football. Just try to get to know him as much as I can because when the season comes and whenever we’re locked in, I want him to be just as confident as I am of him to make the plays out there.”
The Vikings won 14 games last season and any hope of repeating that kind of success will rely on McCarthy feeling at home in the lineup as soon as possible. A strong bond with Jefferson will be a big part of that process and the next few weeks should see the duo drilling down on making sure that it is in place.
No player has ever recorded 2,000 receiving yards in a single NFL season, but one of the league’s top wideouts thinks that will change in the near future.
Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase led the league with 1,708 receiving yards during the 2024 season and he said this week that he thinks we are “closer than people expect” to the moment when a player crosses the 2,000-yard plateau. Chase said he has designs on being the player to do it, but thinks that someone will get there soon.
“The next three years, somebody has to do it, if it’s not me,” Chase said, via Cody Benjamin of CBSSports.com.
Chase tabbed Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson as the other player most likely to set the record and the two LSU products will have a chance to show off on the same field when the Bengals travel to Minnesota in Week 3 this September.
The trial in Vikings receiver Jordan Addison’s DUI case was supposed to start on Tuesday. It didn’t.
Instead, Addison is due back in court on Thursday.
Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com posted on Tuesday that online records show Addison is scheduled for a “hearing” on Thursday. The online records maintained by the Los Angeles County Superior Court technically call it a “pretrial hearing.”
That label is too broad to permit a reliable inference as to what it means. Some think there will be a plea deal that is formalized at the hearing. That’s possible, but “pretrial hearing” doesn’t convey that clearly.
It could be (and this is just an example) that there’s some unresolved issue of evidence that the judge decided to address at a standalone hearing before the trial begins.
Whatever it is, the clock is ticking on the question of whether Addison can get this resolved before he’s due to show up at training camp in Minnesota. Now is the time to get this thing resolved.
And the lingering employment problem for Addison continues to be this — any outcome that suggests responsibility will trigger a baseline suspension of three games without pay.
Enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2018, Randy Moss is undoubtedly one of the greatest receivers of all time.
He’s No. 4 on the all-time list with 15,292 yards and No. 4 with 156 touchdowns, which is made more impressive by the fact that he’s No. 17 with 982 career receptions.
Speaking to the media at an event for his restaurant that’s now paired with the Dolphins for concession stands at Hard Rock Stadium, Moss noted that the “political answer” for the best receiver of all time is Jerry Rice. However…
“If we’re talking real football, where I knock your ass out, it’s me,” Moss said, via David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
As for the present day, Tyreek Hill has been one of the league’s best receivers of his era, as he’s No. 7 on the active list with 11,098 yards. But that lands him at just No. 42 all-time.
That’s likely part of why Moss feels the way he does about Hill’s status among the game’s greats.
“He’s nowhere all-time,” Moss said. “Where is he at in today’s game? Tyreek Hill is probably top five. I put him top five.”
Hill did record one of the league’s top receiving seasons in 2023 when he finished with 1,799 yards on 119 catches. But Justin Jefferson had eclipsed that in 2022 with 1,809 and Cooper Kupp had the No. 2 regular-season of all-time with 1,947 yards in 2021.
Hill is coming off a year where he finished with 81 receptions, 959 yards, and six touchdowns in 17 games. His 56.4 yards per game was his lowest average since his rookie year in 2016.
Hill turned 31 in March. We’ll see how much he can climb the ranks with a potential bounce-back season in 2025.
A week before he’s due to report to the Vikings for training camp, receiver Jordan Addison will be in L.A. for non-football reasons.
As noted by Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com, Addison’s DUI trial remains on track to begin today, July 15. That date was set in the middle of June.
Last July, Addison was found asleep at the wheel at LAX airport. He’s accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, and of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration in excess of the legal limit of .08 percent.
Both charge are misdemeanors. The related complication comes from the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. Baseline punishment for first offense DUI is a three-game suspension.
And the suspension if in play even if there’s any outcome reflecting responsibility — conviction, guilty plea, no contest, diversion program, deferred prosecution, etc.
The chaos that has come from the crumbling of all walls regarding players getting paid has created a very specific problem for veteran NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
Bridgewater serves as the head coach at Miami Northwestern high school. He won a state championship there in 2024, before he re-signed with the Lions to end the season.
The 11-year NFL veteran has now been suspended.
Bridgewater recently admitted in social-media posts that he paid for Uber rides, meals, and recovery services for players. He asked fans of the team to help cover the expenses in 2025.
Via Walter Villa of the Miami Herald, Bridgewater paid $700 per week for player Ubers. He also (per the Palm Beach Post) paid $2,200 for pregame meals and $1,300 for athletic-recovery services.
While the suspension will placate the “rules are rules” crowd, Bridgewater was making life a little better for kids at a school where 75 percent of them are economically disadvantaged.
The move could put Bridgewater (who is only 32) in play to sign with the Lions or some other team for the 2025 NFL season.
Drafted by the Vikings in 2014, he has also played for the Saints, Panthers, Broncos, and Dolphins.
