Minnesota begins Organized Team Activity (OTA) practices Tuesday, so it's time for another offseason status check.

Specifically, how have the Vikings fared relative to their NFC North counterparts? ESPN a few days ago assessed the most surprising and underrated moves, as well as ones that will have the "biggest impact." Additionally, it studied the different buzz around the quarterback position for each team in the division.

Let's get right to it.

In the Vikings section, Kevin Seifert identified two moves tied for most surprising: parting ways with former General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah 26 days after the season, and trading Jonathan Greenard.

Seifert noted the former resulted in an interim front office structure "during the key team-building months of February, March and April" — the team's general manager search is underway — and the latter occurred in large part so the Vikings could "reset their finances following years of high spending."

A toned-down approach in free agency, however, still netted positive additions: namely, two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kyler Murray, ascending depth cornerback James Pierre and veteran receiver Jauan Jennings. Seifert touted the trio's affordable contracts in the "most underrated move" category, adjacent to Rob Brzezinski's "dramatic steps to reset the team's financial ledger" without risking competitiveness.

Seifert wrote the following:

The Vikings aren't anyone's [frontrunner] to win the Super Bowl, but typically when a team makes as big of a cut as the Vikings did — their cash payroll could be roughly $100 million less in 2026 than it was in 2025 — it can decimate a roster. But the Vikings managed to retain their core talent, including some key veterans, such as tight end T.J. Hockenson and running back Aaron Jones, Sr., via [restructured contracts] — and used free agency to acquire good players on relatively small deals.

The decision to bring in Murray could have the biggest impact next season, according to Seifert, and the 28-year-old passer's arrival also is the main reason he believes the franchise has "elevated" the QB room this offseason. With Murray, J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer in the fold, the unit has much more depth and experience than this time a year ago when it had McCarthy, Sam Howell and Brosmer.

Click here to read the rest of the article, and learn what's new with the Bears, Lions and Packers.

Following footsteps

A trip to Tampa Bay in Week 3 this season is going to be extra meaningful for Max Bredeson.

That's because the fifth-round rookie out of Michigan (drafted 159^th overall) will share the field with his brother Ben, an offensive lineman selected in the fourth round in 2020 by the Ravens (143^rd), who has started 53 of 73 games in his career, including all 28 he's played for the Buccaneers the past two seasons.

Max and Ben are the only brothers in Michigan football history to be two-time team captains, and they can relate to beginning their pro careers as Day 3 draft picks. However, the fullback's path was less sure.

It almost never materialized, in fact.

Andrew Krammer of the Minnesota Star Tribune recently explored Max following in the footsteps of his two older brothers — Ben and Jack, who competed on the diamond instead of the gridiron — and being chosen as the heir apparent to longtime Vikings fullback C.J. Ham, who retired after 10 seasons in March.

Ben was a five-star recruit and the 2015 Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year. Max had zero stars after playing quarterback in high school and accepted a spot at Michigan as a preferred walk-on. His parents were blunt with him about the cost of out-of-state tuition and told him he would have to take out a loan.

"'You've got a year,' " Max recalled his parents saying, in Krammer’s story.

Max considered a backup plan — joining the Navy SEALs — but figured out the football thing instead.

"He's been talking about [the SEALs] since he was like 10 years old," said Ben, the middle brother and Buccaneers guard. "He's always wanted to be in that top-of-the-top tier, always wanted to be the best of the best no matter what sport, occupation, no matter what it was. He was always striving to be that guy."

Jack, the oldest brother, weighed the message from his parents to Max back then as a "soft shot clock" to get on scholarship.

Max made it happen after his first year in Ann Arbor. Krammer pointed out the youngest Bredeson was forced to punch above his weight class from an early age, and benefited from supportive parents, Mike and Debra, who journeyed across the country to help their boys participate in youth sport travel leagues.

"They always gave us every opportunity we wanted," said Jack, who pitched for the Wolverines and works in analytics for the New York Mets, "and certainly held us to a very high standard because of that. There were definitely some tough car rides home at times if they didn't think it went the way it should have. Credit to them for that, just kind of put that competitive mindset in all of us."

Jack added, "As any youngest of three brothers, [Max] got his [behind] beat a little bit in a friendly way."

His development turned him into a different person, though.

"The kid that you see now was not the 18-year-old that walked into Michigan," Ben said. "He's grown up a lot — gotten bigger, stronger, more mature — and that was the best thing that ever happened to him."

Max's footsteps will meet Ben's in a special NFL rivalry on Sept. 27 at Raymond James Stadium.

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