Minnesota Vikings News

After holding out for a larger offer for a significant chunk of the offseason, wide receiver Jauan Jennings eventually signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings for the 2026 season. The veteran wideout has been a productive player in recent years with the San Francisco 49ers, recording 132 catches for 1,618 yards and 15 touchdowns on 203 targets across 30 games over the past two seasons. However, Jennings is entering his age-29 season and played through myriad injury issues in 2025, both of which could have held down his value on the open market. After largely playing the WR1 role last season in San Francisco, Jennings' target outlook in Minnesota is less rosy thanks to the presence of wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Jennings should still see plenty of playing time and could be a valuable red-zone weapon, but his production could fade back to where it was at earlier points in his career with the 49ers, when he was the third option behind wideouts Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel Sr. In dynasty formats, Jennings profiles as a sell-high candidate entering 2026.

Across 15 games in 2025, Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson recorded 51 receptions for 438 yards and three touchdowns on 66 targets. While Hockenson's numbers don't jump off the page, the Vikings got some of the worst quarterback play in the league in 2025 from the trio of J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Minnesota's passing game should be significantly improved in 2026 following the offseason acquisition of veteran quarterback Kyler Murray. Still, Hockenson's production has been trending downwards in recent years, and he's now entering his age-29 season and the final year of his current contract with the Vikings. Minnesota also signed former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings in free agency, who seems likely to take Hockenson's role as the tertiary pass-catcher in Minnesota alongside star wideouts Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Dynasty managers may want to consider selling Hockenson before his stock drops even further in 2026.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison's 2025 season got off to an unfortunate start, as he missed the first three games due to a suspension. The 24-year-old then posted the least productive year of his career upon his return, hauling in 42 receptions for 610 yards and three touchdowns on 79 targets across 14 games. Despite the underwhelming 2025 campaign, there may be reason for fantasy managers to buy in on an Addison bounce-back. The Vikings had one of the worst quarterback situations in the NFL last season with the trio of J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Minnesota signed veteran signal-caller Kyler Murray this past offseason, who should bring a significantly higher level of stability to the team's passing game in 2026. Addison has proven he can be an explosive player in a competent offense, averaging 13.4 yards per reception and scoring 19 touchdowns over the first two years of his career. In dynasty formats, Addison profiles as a clear buy-low target for managers.

Minnesota Vikings running back Jordan Mason ran for a disappointing 758 yards and six touchdowns in 2025 after an offseason of dynasty breakout calls following his trade from the 49ers. Even with veteran Aaron Jones Sr. missing five games with a hamstring injury, both Minnesota backs ended the year within 50 total snaps and five opportunities of one another. Jones handled the majority of the third-down and up-tempo work while Mason served as an early-down bruiser. With the most notable addition to the running back room coming in the form of the 195-pound Demond Claiborne in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, Mason's role appears largely unthreatened, and with seismic improvements expected for the Vikings offense as a whole, that role could carry considerably more weight. With efficiency becoming a hallmark of his game, Mason averaged 4.8 yards per carry in 2025, and with the opportunity to close out more games with a lead, the first 1,000-yard campaign of his career would not be out of the question. At RotoBaller's dynasty RB52, the disappointment of last season has driven his cost down, but at 27 years old, in an offense seemingly prepared to get back on track, Mason has again become a player to target for low-cost upside.

Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy are splitting up first-team reps to begin mandatory minicamp. Murray is currently the favorite to win the starting job, but the Vikings aren't going to hand him the job. The expectation is that the Vikings are going to give both quarterbacks a fair chance during the preseason. Murray has mentioned that the most difficult part for him so far has been transitioning to a new roster while splitting up the reps. It's not an ideal situation, but the Vikings need to evaluate what they have in both quarterbacks before picking a starter. Murray is a seven-year veteran, so the experience alone will likely be enough to earn him the starting role in Week 1.

Will Ragatz of Sports Illustrated writes that he saw enough eye-popping throws from new Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray in offseason practices that "make it hard to imagine" J.J. McCarthy "having a realistic chance to win this competition." It's still only OTAs, but so far, Murray has looked sharper throwing the football than McCarthy. McCarthy still has plenty of zip on his passes and has shown signs of mechanical improvement from a year ago (his first as a full-time starter in the NFL), but Murray "looks like a veteran quarterback who can make all the throws." "His physical talent throwing the ball has been on display every day," head coach Kevin O'Connell said of Murray. "The ability to throw to all three levels, layer the ball, anticipation that veteran players bring to the position." McCarthy, who was the 10th overall pick in 2024 out of the University of Michigan, struggled mightily with accuracy and decision-making, and also struggled to stay healthy, completing 57.6% of his pass attempts for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in 10 starts after missing his entire rookie season due to knee surgery. It's still early in McCarthy's career, but it's quickly looking like he's falling out of favor as Minnesota's QB of the future.

Minnesota Vikings running back Demond Claiborne was a sixth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, a historically difficult spot from which to find fantasy success. On the rare occasions when a back with such late draft capital has made a meaningful fantasy impact, the setting is often a backfield without a clear leader. With neither Aaron Jones nor Jordan Mason handling more than 39% of the team's carries or reaching 760 yards on the ground in 2025, the landing spot in Minnesota certainly qualifies as such. Claiborne is only 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, so he is unlikely to ever find an every-down role in the NFL, but he offers an element of speed unique to the Vikings' running back room. If he can beat out 2023 undrafted free agent Xavier Scott, he could carve out a role in a three-man rotation in an offense projected to get back on track after the worst showing of the Kevin O'Connell era. At RotoBaller's rookie WR8, Claiborne is at least worth a dart throw in the closing rounds of 2026 rookie drafts.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson averaged more than 6.4 catches and 96.5 yards per game through his first five seasons in the league, but those numbers took a seismic hit in 2025. His 84 receptions were his fewest in any full season, while his 1,048 receiving yards and two touchdowns also marked career lows. With some of the league's worst quarterback play affecting all of Minnesota's pass catchers, dynasty managers who bought the dip on Jefferson could be rewarded as early as 2026. The Vikings signed former first overall pick Kyler Murray to a one-year deal this offseason, and by all accounts, he has acclimated quickly to a new offense and has an early but notable edge over 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota's quarterback competition. While Murray's history of supporting a number one receiver is not substantial, he did help DeAndre Hopkins finish as the WR7 in their first season together. With him already playing for his next contract, he would be wise to lean on one of the best receivers in the world. Yet to turn 27, Jefferson is RotoBaller's dynasty WR4, and while he can no longer be acquired on a discount, he's at least worth inquiring about while last season's disappointment is still fresh in the minds of some.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy continues to have some dynasty appeal, but he faces an uphill battle to earn immediate playing time. The Vikings brought in Kyler Murray to essentially light a fire under McCarthy, in hopes that he'll strengthen his candidacy for the starting role, either short-term or long-term. Although the Vikings are still optimistic that McCarthy can be their franchise quarterback for years to come, it's unlikely that he'll start right away in 2026, which means he lacks short-term fantasy appeal. He missed all of his rookie campaign in 2024, and he's coming off a frustrating 2025 campaign in which he totaled 1,632 passing yards, 15 total touchdowns, and 14 turnovers across 10 games. It's too early to consider dropping McCarthy in dynasty leagues, but we acknowledge that managers will need to exercise patience as they stash him on the bench while he occupies the backup role behind Murray.

Veteran quarterback Kyler Murray's time with the Arizona Cardinals came to an ugly end in 2025, as he struggled across five starts before suffering a foot injury that ultimately ended his season. However, the 28-year-old is healthy and ready to go entering 2026, and he landed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings over the offseason. While Murray is nominally in a quarterback competition with J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota, the widely held expectation is that Murray will assume the team's QB1 role. With the Vikings, Murray will work with a play-caller in Kevin O'Connell who has orchestrated multiple successful quarterback reclamation projects. Murray also has a pair of excellent wide receivers to throw to in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. While Murray's career has taken a turn for the worse in recent seasons, he still carries high-end dual-threat fantasy upside. Across 17 games in 2024, Murray threw for 3,851 yards and 21 touchdowns while rushing for 572 yards and five scores. If he can stay on the field in 2026, he has a golden opportunity to revitalize his career with the Vikings.

Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones Sr. is trending in the wrong direction as he prepares for his age-31 season. Injuries limited Jones to 12 games last year, and it marked the second time in three seasons that he missed at least five weeks. The veteran ball-carrier finished the 2025 campaign with 548 rushing yards, 199 receiving yards, and three touchdowns. He finished as the RB41 in PPR leagues, which was his worst mark since his rookie season in 2017. While being healthy for 2026 will help his stock a little, Jones is losing dynasty appeal as he gets older and his role shrinks. Jones no longer has control over the lead-back role in Minnesota. At best, he's splitting touches with Jordan Mason, and we also can't rule out the possibility that Mason takes over the starting job. Jones has always been a capable pass-catcher, so that will keep him relevant in PPR leagues for a little while, but the trajectory is unfavorable. Jones has fallen to RB53 in RotoBaller's latest dynasty fantasy football rankings.

Vikings wide receiver Jauan Jennings finished as a top 30 fantasy receiver in each of his past two seasons with the 49ers, but in signing a one-year deal with Minnesota well after the opening stages of free agency, his path to another WR3 finish is notably more clouded. Jennings' best year came in 2024 when a mid-season injury to Brandon Aiyuk and the precipitous drop-off of former All-Pro Deebo Samuel allowed him to lead the team in targets and end the year with a career-high 975 receiving yards. In Minnesota, he'll be playing alongside one of the league's premier receivers in Justin Jefferson and an upper-echelon WR2 in Jordan Addison, and an argument can also be made that his quarterback play will take a step back, even if Kyler Murray claims the starting job as expected. While in Arizona, Murray has only once supported his number one wide receiver to a top 25 fantasy season, and the top result he's ever gotten from a secondary receiver was A.J. Green's WR40 finish in 2021. With Jennings potentially running as the third receiver in Minnesota, it's likely he'll be a better real-life than fantasy player in 2026, and with the market already cooler on him than he seemed to anticipate, he'll test free agency one more time in 2027, but on the cusp of turning 30. At RotoBaller's dynasty WR65, he can still provide usable depth in the face of bye weeks and injuries, but it's likely his best fantasy days are behind him.

Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson has been disappointing in recent years, and it appears that trend could continue in 2026. Hockenson had a modest 51 catches last season, resulting in just 438 yards and three touchdowns. He has been the TE26 or worse in each of his last two seasons, and he has just three touchdowns over his last 28 regular-season games dating back to 2023. Part of the reason for Hockenson's struggles could be a crowded receiver room of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, but more likely, poor quarterback play can be blamed. J.J. McCarthy played in just 10 games last year, and even when he was healthy, he had more interceptions than passing touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Vikings brought in quarterback competition in Kyler Murray, but his track record of supporting fantasy tight ends isn't great. Trey McBride was the TE10 in standard leagues with Murray healthy last year, and he jumped to TE1 once Murray went down with an injury. It seems like neither McCarthy nor Murray is capable of getting Hockenson back to his pre-2024 form, which consistently saw him rank among the top five fantasy tight ends. His track record is too strong to drop him in dynasty leagues, but he's certainly not startable anytime soon. He should be stashed on the end of the bench in most formats.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison had an underwhelming 2025 season. In addition to missing the first three games of the year due to a suspension, he turned in the worst statistics of his career as he caught just 42 passes for 610 yards and three touchdowns across 14 games. It was the first time in Addison's three-year career that he ranked lower than WR23 in PPR leagues. The frustrating 2025 season has prompted some managers to explore trading Addison in dynasty leagues. While we're not overly optimistic about a quarterback room featuring J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray, we do expect to see more consistent, quality quarterback reps from McCarthy and Murray than what we saw from Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer last year. Video from voluntary workouts shows that Murray, the projected starter, has quickly built a rapport with Addison, so perhaps that's a reason for optimism. Jefferson is still the alpha receiver here, but the 2023 and 2024 seasons showed that Jefferson and Addison can co-exist on the fantasy radar. Addison ranks as the WR30 in RotoBaller's latest dynasty fantasy football rankings, and he has sneaky value as a potential buy-low candidate in trades ahead of the 2026 season.

Minnesota Vikings running back Jordan Mason was a popular breakout candidate after the team acquired him from San Francisco in the 2025 offseason, but he was a top-20 fantasy back in only two weeks and finished the year as the RB35. His 4.8 yards per carry, while representing the lowest mark of his career, was still solid, but he never saw the volume needed to sustain fantasy success. With Aaron Jones missing five games, Mason exceeded 15 carries only twice all season, and even then, topped out at 16. Seven times, he was held to single-digit attempts. The Vikings spent a sixth-round pick on running back Demond Claiborne in the 2026 NFL, but at only 5'10" and 195 pounds, he's more likely to impact Jones' role on third downs, while Mason should remain the early-down thumper. With a healthier offensive line and improved quarterback play, his second season with the Vikings could be marginally more productive even if his role remains largely unchanged. At 27 years old, Mason is RotoBaller's dynasty RB52, and while the breakout calls have quieted, he is still capable of playing out the final year of his contract as an occasional flex option with notable insurance upside.

Minnesota Vikings running back Demond Claiborne might not contribute right away, but he has long-term upside in dynasty fantasy football leagues. The Vikings selected Claiborne, a Wake Forest product, in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Across his final two years in the ACC, he totaled 1,956 rushing yards, 51 catches, 394 receiving yards, and 23 total touchdowns. He'll face much tougher defenses in the NFL, but it was encouraging to see him produce at such a high level while routinely facing Power 4 programs. In Minnesota, he'll initially slot in behind Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason, and perhaps Zavier Scott. However, Jones is likely headed into his final year with the Vikings, and Scott's job isn't guaranteed, so there could be a path for Claiborne to eventually take over as the No. 2 running back behind Mason. Because of that potential trajectory, Claiborne is a worthwhile selection in the early to middle portion of the third round of fantasy football rookie drafts.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson reached the 1,000-yard mark for the sixth straight season to begin his NFL career in 2025, but he had a career-low 1,048 yards with only two touchdowns in 17 starts as the team's quarterback play deteriorated following the departure of Sam Darnold in free agency last offseason. Former first-rounder J.J. McCarthy missed nine games due to injuries last year and was a disaster in terms of accuracy and consistency while leading the Vikings' offense, which led to a WR25 finish for Jefferson in half-PPR scoring. The 26-year-old's arrow was pointing down in dynasty fantasy football leagues until the Vikings signed former Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray to take over under center in 2026. The four-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro's fantasy stock is now back on the rise, and his buy-low window is closing fast. Murray is a definite upgrade over McCarthy, but fantasy managers should automatically expect Jefferson to return to elite WR1 territory in redraft leagues in 2026. Jefferson is ranked as the WR4 in RotoBaller's dynasty rankings.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy was drafted with the 10th overall pick in 2024 out of Michigan as the team's next franchise signal-caller. He missed his entire rookie season in 2024, though, due to a meniscus injury in his knee that required surgery. The Vikings were still confident he was their guy under center going into last year, however, and let Sam Darnold walk in free agency as a result. Not only did McCarthy disappoint in 2025 in his first full season as the Vikings' starter, but Darnold led the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots. The 23-year-old made only 10 starts in his first NFL action, completing 57.6% of his 243 pass attempts for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while taking 27 sacks. The Vikings quickly rethought their plan at QB this offseason and signed former first overall pick Kyler Murray. With Murray expected to open the 2026 campaign as the Vikings' starter, McCarthy's dynasty fantasy value has taken a massive hit, and he's now ranked as the No. 31 QB in RotoBaller's dynasty rankings. Murray isn't a lock to run with the starting gig in Minnesota -- his injury history is lengthy -- but McCarthy showed last year that he has plenty of developing to do still, and he may not get that opportunity again with the Vikings.

Quarterback Kyler Murray's dynasty stock reached an all-time low last year when he didn't play beyond Week 5 with the Arizona Cardinals due to a foot sprain. It was the beginning of the end of his time in Arizona after the Cardinals took him with the first overall pick in 2019 out of Oklahoma. Despite playing in a career-low five games and finishing as the QB38 last year, the 28-year-old's dynasty stock is surging back upwards after he was released and signed a one-year, $36.8 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings. He will take over as the starter in Minnesota over J.J. McCarthy, and although Murray hasn't played a full season in four of the last five years due to injuries, he's a rising dynasty target because of his landing spot. Murray will have arguably one of the best receiving corps to work with in Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Jauan Jennings, not to mention tight end T.J. Hockenson. Murray should be asked to push the ball more down the field, and his high-end rushing upside will give him QB1 upside if he can stay on the field. He's in the best situation of his career. There is risk, but Murray has suddenly climbed up to the QB20 in RotoBaller's dynasty rankings going into 2026.

Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones Sr. missed five games in 2025 while struggling through hamstring, hip, and shoulder issues, but when healthy, he was still the team's preferred back on the field. He led first-year Viking Jordan Mason by nearly five offensive snaps and 12 yards from scrimmage per game. Minnesota was pegged as one of the most running back-needy teams heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, but they waited until late Day 3 to address the position, selecting Wake Forest's Demond Claiborne in the sixth round. While the 5'9", 195-pound rookie poses more of a threat to Jones than the 223-pound early down thumper Mason, the backfield is likely heading towards an even more ambiguous split. At 31 years old, Jones won't come close to approaching his former league-winning ceiling, but given his well-rounded skill set in both the run and pass games, he's still a safe bet to be the Vikings' most valuable back for fantasy. At RotoBaller's dynasty RB53, Jones is a low-cost add for contending managers seeking depth, with the understanding that, entering the final year of his current contract, he is unlikely to return value beyond 2026.