Unknown Minnesota Vikings UDFA steals the show in the second half and makes a compelling case to make the roster
The next great Vikings UDFA had a fantastic debut on Saturday.
Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has made a living finding talented UDFAs that make the roster. Over the first three seasons as general manager, the Vikings have kept eight UDFAs on the 53-man roster.
- 2022: EDGE Luiji Vilain
- 2023: LB Ivan Pace Jr.
- 2023: EDGE Andre Carter II
- 2023: CB NaJee Thompson
- 2024: EDGE Gabe Murphy
- 2024: NT Taki Taimani
- 2024: CB Dwight McGlothern
- 2024: EDGE/LB Bo Richter
Elijah Williams is the next big UDFA for the Vikings
Saturday’s preseason game had some really intriguing standouts, with multiple of them being undrafted free agents. The biggest one was edge rusher Gabe Murphy, but he was a UDFA from 2024. This year’s UDFA class has one player who has stood out in a big way: defensive tackle Elijah Williams.
Now, Williams is an interesting case across the board. He wasn’t one of the original UDFA class that Adofo-Mensah signed right after the NFL Draft. The Vikings did sign him after rookie minicamp, which makes you significantly more likely to make the 53-man roster.
What’s really interesting with Williams’ profile is how productive he was at Morgan State. He notched 33 sacks and 52.0 tackles for loss at the FCS level. However, that is the FCS level and the National Football League is three tiers higher than where he played in college.
His first performance in the preseason was just 21 snaps, but Williams had four pressures on just 15 pass rush reps. He was consistently in the backfield with good hand usage and explosiveness.
It wasn’t just against the pass, but also the run. On a wide zone play, Williams did a really good job of preventing the offensive lineman from getting to his outside shoulder and making the tackle.
It wasn’t just me who ended up impressed with Williams and what he could be. Head coach Kevin O’Connell had some nice things to say about him after the game.
“It’s one of those things where you guys know, you know how we handle rookie mini camp. There’s not a lot of team reps where you can project, but I remember vividly Marcus Dixon coming to me after day one of that tryout. And I always like to check in with all the coaches. Anybody catch your eye for me to look at tomorrow, and I’ll be the first oneto tell you, watching D line individual for an hour and a half is not what I choose to do with my freetime a lot, but I did spend some time just observing him, the effort had a little pop to him throughout the drills, and that’s really what’s shown up throughout training camp.
“Guys like that are hungry, and also, for whatever reason, how did you end up being a tryout guy? I tell the guys all the time, regardless of how you got here, this opportunity is right before your feet so go out there and attack it every day. He sits in the first row of my team meetings every single day. And for you guys that have been in there, that’s like sitting in the front row of a movie theater. I tell them every day, how do you see what I’m showing on the screen? He’s like, coach, don’t worry about me. I sit in the front row, and that’s what I do, and that’s defensive meetings, position meetings. There’s a lot to like about him, and it was good to see him make some plays tonight, too.”
He’s doing the right things, and that’s a good thing. Williams is listed at 6-3 and 270 lbs on the Vikings roster page, but he plays bigger and stronger than that. It’s what makes things really intriguing moving forward. With a year in an NFL weight room and strength and conditioning program, he could be the next really good defensive lineman.
The ideal path for Williams would be to give him a path forward similar to that of Levi Drake Rodriguez last year. Give him a year to get his body in ideal shape, as FCS facilities aren’t near the level of those at the FBS level.
There is something there with Williams, and the Vikings have the staff to unlock him.
Minnesota Vikings News
UDFA standouts highlight Minnesota Vikings 53-man roster projection changes post Texans preseason game
The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Houston Texans 20-10 in the preseason opener for the 2025 season. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy got the start and threw the ball relatively well. The biggest thing was how good his process was overall, as he led the Vikings to a field goal. The biggest storylines for the Vikings came from […]
