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The Vikings are somber and in mourning as many in the organization head to Indianapolis today for the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine.

Receiver Rondale Moore was found deceased in his hometown of New Albany, Indiana, on Saturday.

Moore was only 25 years old. He had joined the Vikings as a free agent last March, working his way back from a severe knee injury he had suffered during 2024 training camp with the Falcons. Moore's comeback attempt was quickly affected by heartbreak and hurt again. He suffered a knee injury during his lone punt return as a Viking in Minnesota's 2025 preseason opener against Houston.

The Minnesota Vikings released the following statement:

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Rondale Moore. While we are working to understand the facts, we have spoken with Rondale's family to offer our condolences and the full support of the Minnesota Vikings. We have also been in communication with our players, coaches, and staff, and will make counseling and emotional support resources available to anyone in need. Our thoughts are with Rondale's family and friends during this devastating time."

Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell released the following statement:

"I am devastated by the news of Rondale's death. While Rondale had been a member of the Vikings for a short time, he was someone we came to know well and care about deeply. He was a humble, soft-spoken, and respectful young man who was proud of his Indiana roots. As a player, he was disciplined, dedicated and resilient despite facing adversity multiple times as injuries sidelined him throughout his career. We are all heartbroken by the fact he won't continue to live out his NFL dream, and we won't all have a chance to watch him flourish. My prayers are with Rondale's family, friends, teammates and coaches as we all deal with this tragic news."

Sunday brought the sad news of the passing of former Vikings DB Ronyell Whitaker, who was just 46. His family released a statement to Vikings.com, and I shared a personal reflection from meeting him in fall 2021 when he, Esera Tuaolo, Ed McDaniel and Robert Blanton joined military members from the Air Force, Army National Guard, Marines and Navy in Hastings to go through United Heroes League's "Strapped" Confidence Course, which features 18 obstacles designed from basic training experiences.

What I saw those Vikings Legends and the military families accomplish on that course still inspire me (please check out the excerpts at the end of the above story or in this full-length recap from that visit for an uplifting moment). Ronyell provided a forever memory that day.

There's not really a transition from such sad news, but here it goes.

I appreciate everyone's patience and understanding with me taking the one-week break after the Super Bowl. It's a window where I try to recharge the battery and get ready for this week's combine.

I'll be with a group from the Vikings Entertainment Network that is heading to Indianapolis later today.

Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski are scheduled to participate in interviews that are planned to air during Tuesday (O'Connell) and Wednesday (Brzezinski) episodes of 9 to Noon with Paul Allen and Pete Bercich. If you miss those when they air live, we'll have the sessions on Vikings.com.

O'Connell and Brzezinski also are scheduled to participate in 1-on-1 interviews with VEN's Tatum Everett, so be on the lookout for those, as well as her talks with national experts and our editorial coverage, which will include comments during on-the-record sessions by O'Connell and Brzezinski with Twin Cities media members who travel to Indianapolis.

This week will be the first time O'Connell and Brzezinski have commented since the Vikings parted ways with former General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Jan. 30, concluding his four-year tenure.

Everyone reading this knows this is an important offseason for Minnesota to try to build on late-season momentum, continue the pattern of following a down season with an up year and then break that cycle to establish sustained levels of desired success.

Let's get to some questions.

OK, even the Vikings staff need a quick breather, especially after the up-and-down anticlimactic end to the season and start of the offseason. And I refer to how the team seemed to have righted the longship from the gale force winds that had buffeted it since the final week of the 2024 season.

Form collapsing against the Lions and then embarrassing themselves in the Wild Card versus the Rams, to having to let both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones sign elsewhere, to having Jordan Addison's poor decision making cost the team three games, to the injury bug and questionable choices plaguing J.J. McCarthy most of the season, and culminating with the ownership finally realizing that Kwesi's leadership was not producing significant results. And on top of all that, to have the feel-good story of our home-state son, Adam Thielen's return, get twisted up and jettisoned so unceremoniously.

Well, the various all-star games for college players are in the books, including the increasingly insignificant behemoth of college football bowl season, and execs & scouts can now concentrate on the NFL Combine. Followed by the frenzy of free agency and then the draft.

I'm not worried about the new GM search, though I do hope they take greater interest in the new hire's process for identifying the cost/risk benefit of players they would evaluate, and how to better structure contracts that rewards performance but cushions the team from recurring losses (think of the cohesive sponge that was the 2025 O-Line).

As for the draft, and the recurring theme of minimal picks, I really question the need to waste a pick this year on yet another wide receiver (as some mock draft analysts suggest). The o-line and secondary are far more pressing needs.

And before the Vikings exercise his fifth-year option, we need to see a lot more maturity (of process and choices) AND durability from J.J. McCarthy. NIL and the portal are ruining college football, and players are becoming mercenaries for hire, which seriously impedes the ability of GMs and scouts to realistically evaluate players. And that's especially obvious at "the most important position in all of sports." Talk about hyperbole, but at least in the NFL, there's a ring of truth to that.

And specific to the Vikings, they really need a solid campaign from J.J. this year before they bequeath the next decade to him. The next few months he should be a sponge, learning schemes, playing catch with his teammates, exercising and conditioning his mind and body. And as we just experienced, he needs a credible and present mentor.

And to that end I hope the Vikings brass turn a deaf ear to the snake oil salesmen that will try to dangle problematic and injury-prone players like Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray in front of them. Besides the obvious fact that taking on their contracts would crush our already-in-the-red salary cap, both those guys have shown, despite prodigious talent, they have been unable to elevate their respective teams.

The only safe bets that come to mind are also players whose contracts are more amenable. The obvious one is Kirk Cousins, who appears to be on his way out of Atlanta, despite his old pal Kevin Stefanski taking the reins, and with a reworked contract to boot. The transition back into the Vikings fold would be fairly smooth. He's recovered from his Achilles and knows he's entered the final year(s) of his career, where he is both a capable leader and patient mentor.

The other intriguing prospect is Derek Carr, who was quite capable, but routinely saddled with poor and porous help up front, both in Vegas and Nola. And apparently a sly "wink-wink" reference was even made regarding him being amenable to joining the Vikings by his brother David on their podcast about his liking of Purple & Gold (though it's actually yellow?).

A structured two-year contract for either of them wouldn't break the bank, would provide healthy competition for both J.J. (and Max Brosmer, who has potential, too), and best of all serve as the big brother mentor to aide in his development.

And don't forget the ceremonial one-day contracts for retiring players like Adam Thielen, Hitman Harry and C.J. Ham, if indeed they do hang up their cleats.

— David A. (From the North Shore but stuck in the South)

I genuinely appreciate how loyal our readership is and don't like to disrupt the conversations we get to have, but the breather lined up with an opportunity to welcome dear friends from Tennessee and Indiana to Minnesota and enjoy quality time with them.

This past season was trying for many. It wasn't the first challenging season, and honestly, I don't expect it to be the last because there are so many obstacles a team can encounter. When a team can realistically express goals of making the playoffs and a deep run (as most of us thought was the case last year), and then doesn't reach that level of success, it's zapping.

"Production-based business" is a phrase often used regarding players. When it comes to personnel departments, a major part can come down to "returns on investments," whether that's with an expensive contract for a veteran who commands a significant part of a team's salary cap or with the use of draft capital, one of the rarest currencies in the NFL.

Adofo-Mensah tried a few different methods of maximizing value, either by trading down in his first draft, or by signing veterans who may not have been quite as expensive because of injury history. The Vikings current administration has had a pretty good run of having intended starters available and buck prior injury history, but that wasn't the case last season.

Quarterback development doesn't manifest as a digital photo or even as quickly as a Polaroid, but it is important. Ultimately, the Vikings began developing McCarthy in real time. One point of clarification, the Vikings will not have to decide on a fifth-year option for McCarthy (or 2024 first-round mate Dallas Turner) until 2027. They will have to decide on the fifth-year option for Jordan Addison this spring.

Given that Tagovailoa and Flores overlapped in Miami, and things did not go well, I'd be surprised if the 2020 No. 5 overall pick heads this far north.

I've seen people floating the ideas of Murray, Cousins and the unique case of Carr (he retired from New Orleans last June two seasons through a four-year contract). NFL rules prohibit team employees from commenting heavily on players under contract with other teams, so I'll just say we will cover any bridge the Vikings cross when possible.

Honoring the legacies of Thielen, Ham and Smith at the appropriate time (and beyond) remains important to the organization. No one has heard yet what Smith intends to do.

You cannot believe everything you read, but an article said the Dolphins are rebuilding and might trade Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Vikings. What are the odds? What would it cost? They mentioned the ties with Brian Flores. I would trade a third or lower to see what he has left in the tank.

And…

Dallas and Los Angeles (the Rams) both have two picks in the first round. Their picks are before us and after us. Do you think we can trade our first for their later-round first and a second- or third if there is a player either of those two teams really want?

— Gerald Goblirsch

Not to put the CD on repeat, but because Fitzpatrick has a year remaining on his current deal, I don't want to speculate on potential odds or costs.

The connection to Flores exists. Fitzpatrick was selected the season before Flores became Miami's head coach, but he was traded to Pittsburgh in 2019, so their time together in Miami was short. They reconnected in Pittsburgh in 2022 before Flores' hire by Minnesota in 2023.

A team who just hired a new head coach this offseason might be more likely to entertain trade offers, either because of status in the rebuild or because of system fit.

Similarly, teams with two first-round picks might be more likely to use one of those to navigate the board than teams with only one selection.

The Rams have the 13^th pick that would have belonged to the Falcons, as well as the 29th overall pick. The Cowboys have the 12^th pick, as well as the 20^th overall pick, which was acquired from the Packers in the Micah Parsons trade.

With the Vikings at 18, the haul for moving to 29 would be greater than nudging down a couple of spots.

I feel bad for Kwesi. I'm sure he did what he thought was right as a GM. I've seen a lot of talk about why he got fired. In my opinion, what cost him his job was his free agent choices on both sides of the football in the trenches. He made good signings, but other teams fared better. I think Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen are good defensive linemen. Milton Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence played in the Super Bowl. The Bears got Pro Bowl performances out of their free agent offensive line signees. The Vikings did not. The Vikings offensive and defensive lines both played better when healthy, but the teams that did the best job with their free agent spending got some very visible results.

My hope is that the current staff ignores the eye candy and gets quality players on both sides of the trenches in the draft. They are there in abundance this year.

— Gary from Florida

The Vikings free agency moves under Adofo-Mensah are generally going to be considered successes, even going back to his first offseason of 2022. The Vikings were able to efficiently find players who performed well in key roles.

The 2024 class — highlighted by Darnold, Aaron Jones, Sr., Andrew Van Ginkel, Jonathan Greenard and Blake Cashman — secured five starters among those players, with Van Ginkel and Greenard making the Pro Bowl in their first season as teammates.

The Vikings have repeatedly emphasized process under O'Connell, so they implemented previously deployed processes toward the offensive and defensive line. Williams was going to be cost prohibitive and was, but he returned the investment made by the Patriots. Lawrence also was a nice addition for an impressive Seahawks roster.

Chicago's overhaul of the offensive line didn't face the injury challenges that Minnesota's attempt did, and it helped Bears second-year QB Caleb Williams. After all that, it's still wild that one kickoff return at U.S. Bank Stadium provided the key difference between Chicago winning the division and Minnesota watching the playoffs.

I've previously noted how much of Seattle's Super Bowl squad was strengthened by the first four rounds of the past four drafts.

Free agency can come with high rewards, but the financial costs increase the risk. It seems to work best if it can facilitate a rebuild on the fly (like 2024 by Minnesota) or accentuate an existing core.

I'm tired of seeing all the chatter on my ESPN app about what the Vikings will do with J.J.

It's like they assume he can't lead our team. It's like 10 games define his path, good or bad, which I think is crazy. Can't believe there have been many quarterbacks that soared right out of the gate. Just had to vent my frustration. Thanks for listening.

— Dave Opseth in Harmony, Minnesota

All the McCarthy criticism (I believe he'd agree that some has been warranted; but, to me, some of it seems beyond sensationalized) and speculation can be exhausting. Organizations know how engaged the Vikings fanbase is year-round, so I don't expect the chirping and chattering to stop.

Williams and Drake Maye both had immensely greater seasons in their second years as starting NFL QBs.

I believe McCarthy going through his first full NFL offseason healthy (ask anyone, nothing is "normal" for a player going through pre-draft hoopla) is a big step toward his overall development, and his availability is going to be brought into question until it isn't a question. There are certainly aspects where growth in his game can occur, but they require time on task.

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