This is a critical offseason for the Minnesota Vikings.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell is entering his fifth season with the Vikings, and there are no more excuses for him since they fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. With him out of the picture, everything is on O’Connell, as the move to remove Adofo-Mensah essentially puts all of the blame on him.

With interim general manager Rob Brzezinski at the helm, what will things look like? Will he take more of a Rick Spielman type approach or will they continue the style of Adofo-Mensah? I put together a mock offseason of what things could end up looking like for the Vikings.

Minnesota Vikings mock offseason 1.0

In-house contract restructures, extensions, and cuts

• Restructure WR Justin Jefferson: $16.99 million in savings
• Restructure LT Christian Darrisaw: $9,968,947 in savings
• Restructure EDGE Jonathan Greenard: $13.21 million in savings
• Extend RT Brian O’Neill: $15,115,657 in savings
• Cut DT Javon Hargrave: $10,497,500 in savings
• Cut RB Aaron Jones: $7.75 million
• Cut C Ryan Kelly (retired): $8,347,647 in savings
• Total cap savings: $81,879,751
• Cap space: $41,723,398
• Effective cap space (cap space – projected draft class): $28,729,389

Overall, the Vikings have a lot of financial flexibility. There isn’t a lot of dead salary cap they are currently dealing with. Former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah set them up really well in terms of the salary cap, and they can get under the salary cap with ease. The only contracts the Vikings should restructure are the ones who will stay with the Vikings long-term, which means Jefferson, Greenard, and Darrisaw.

Free agency signings and re-signings

• RB Kenneth Walker III: 3 years, $36 million, $4.5 million cap hit year one
• S Andre Cisco: 2 years, $14 million, $3.5 million cap hit year one
• LB Quincy Williams: 1 year, $5 million, $3 million cap hit year one
• DT Tim Settle: 1 year, $2.5 million, $2.5 million cap hit year one
• P Ryan Wright: 3 years, $8 million, $2 milion cap hit year one
• DT Jalen Redmond: 3 years, $45 million, $6 million cap hit year one
• QB Jimmy Garoppolo: 1 year, $6 million, $3.25 million cap hit year one

You want to keep around $10 million available for in-season signings and the practice squad, and this will do just that.

The big thing with this free agency class is to fortify positions that need it, while also getting an explosive player to help the offense. Walker would be a huge coup for the Vikings, as he would pair perfectly with Jordan Mason to create a thunder and lightning dynamic. They haven’t had anyone with that kind of explosiveness in quite some time.

Fortifying the defense with solid players who will fill roles is what this group does. Cisco is a center fielder by trade who will allow Josh Metellus to be more of the Swiss Army Knife he was in 2023 and 2024. Williams and Settle offer solid additions to a unit that needs base-level starters to pair with multiple draft picks.

Garoppolo isn’t a sexy quarterback signing, but he’s capable of running the offense on time and doing what O’Connell wants: throwing over the middle.

The other big addition here is Redmond. They don’t have to give him an extension this year since he’s an exclusive rights free agent, but it’s something they should seriously consider doing now before the price goes sky high.

Vikings 7-round NFL mock draft

• Round 1, pick 18: Keldric Faulk, EDGE/DT, Auburn
• Round 2, pick 49: Chris Johnson, CB, San Diego State
• Round 3, pick 82: Skyler Bell, WR, UConn
• Round 3, pick 97: Tim Keenan III, DT, Alabama
• Round 5, pick 161: Pat Coogan, C, Indiana
• Round 6, pick 195: Domani Jackson, CB, Alabama
• Round 7, pick 234: Jalen Huskey, S, Maryland
• Round 7, pick 235: Noah Whittington, RB, Oregon
• Round 7, pick 244: Riley Nowakowski, TE, Indiana

This mock draft is built to complement the free agency class, which is why the first pick was on the interior. Faulk might be better suited to play on the interior, which is the idea here. He’s a bigger-bodied player who would be a good 4i in Brian Flores’ defense.

The one frustration here was not getting a safety until the seventh round, but getting Johnson in the second, along with Keenan in the third, helps fortify a defense desperately needing an infusion of youth. Bell could also compete to be WR3 as a rookie after nearly winning the Biletnikoff award. Whittington is a sleeper player at running back who is available due to his height at 5-8.