EAGAN, Minn. — Jonathan Greenard's 2025 season has come to an end.
The outside linebacker has battled through a shoulder injury but will undergo surgery after reaggravating it at Dallas Sunday night, Vikings Head Coach O'Connell announced Monday.
"It's a pretty standard kind of shoulder injury that should allow him to have a pretty routine procedure and be back on his way to being 100% and ready to roll," O'Connell said. "It just feels like the best time to do that now.
"As a captain and a leader on our team, he's had a huge impact both on the field — and I thought he played one of his best games yesterday, before he reaggravated that shoulder," O'Connell added. "But what he's meant to me and our team and what we're able to do as a football team, specifically these last two weeks, J.G. and his leadership and his commitment to being a foundational player for us as a football team has been on full display."
The Vikings have won the past two contests to improve to 6-8 but were eliminated from postseason contention before Sunday's kickoff. Minnesota has three games remaining this season.
Greenard missed games against Chicago and at Green Bay. He returned to limited action at Seattle and against Washington before returning to the starting lineup at Dallas, where he helped Minnesota defeat the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. Through 12 games this season (10 starts), Greenard recorded 38 tackles, 3.0 sacks, 12 QB hits, 10 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and three passes defensed.
Though his sack numbers weren't quite as high as the 12 he had last season, Greenard has affected QBs all season long in ways that aren't quite as flashy. According to analytics site Pro Football Focus, his 31 quarterback hurries rank 13th in the league among all edge defenders and lead the Vikings by a wide margin; Jalen Redmond is next closest with 23 hurries.
O'Connell noted that Greenard's toughness has been on full display.
"He was not going to be denied, you know, when he got … what he needed to be cleared to play, he was back on the field," O'Connell said. "Even going a few weeks back to [when he was getting] minimal snaps. And then building it up from there, it was something he was playing through — he knew he would not be able to put this behind him until he got fixed, whenever that was going to be."
