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I appreciate everyone's patience as we delayed the publication of this week's Mailbag in observance of Memorial Day.

I try to be mindful every day how appreciative I am of the freedoms bestowed on me and the fact I get to do my dream job because of the sacrifices of others, but the holiday further stirs those feelings every year. Thank you to our fallen soldiers, our veterans and our active-duty and reserve members of the military and their families.

Last week, NFL owners convened at the Omni Viking Lakes Hotel and nearly instituted a ban on the "tush push," but the vote that needed 24 votes only received 22 votes.

The biggest development was owners voting to allow NFL players to participate when flag football is introduced at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Justin Jefferson and Brian Asamoah II were on hand to help with the announcement.

The Spring League Meeting led into the 20-year anniversary of the Wilf family purchasing the Minnesota Vikings, which was approved by NFL owners in May 2005.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell presented Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf with a custom-painted helmet to celebrate the major milestone during a gathering at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.

I obviously have benefited from the Wilf family's ownership of the Vikings and what they've built that includes the Vikings Entertainment Network, but I think community members would join in recognizing what their tenure has done for the area, whether it was through ushering in state-of-the-art facilities, making positive impacts through philanthropy, advancing the growth of high school and youth and flag football, or continuing to invest in ways that enable the team to compete for championships.

The family sincerely approaches ownership as stewardship of an organization that can bring joy (and sometimes pain) to game days.

When do we start minicamp? I'm ready to see J.J. That will let me know if we are ready for this hard schedule. And what is going on with Cam Akers?

— Warren

I am beyond elated to let everyone know that organized team activity practices will start today with a session that is closed to the media. Wednesday's practice will be open, so we'll have coverage from that session.

Another open OTA is scheduled for June 2, and the team's mandatory minicamp is scheduled for June 10-12. All three days of minicamp are open, and they are the only part of the team's offseason program that is mandatory.

As for Akers, he is currently a free agent. The past season the Vikings acquired him through an in-season trade for the second consecutive year. He's played in 18 regular-season games for Minnesota since 2023 and is an incredible story of perseverance.

The Vikings re-signed Aaron Jones, Sr., and traded for Jordan Mason, so those are the team's leading plans at running back in 2025.

The game vs. the Chargers on Thursday night in L.A. will be my toughest. We play the Eagles the week before at U.S. Bank. That will be an emotional game. A very big game. The Chargers will be better. We have owned them recently, and I am sure they will be reminded of that, as well. [Jim] Harbaugh also coached J.J. [McCarthy]. Last year, we played the Rams on a Thursday after a tough game against the Lions. We are older and wiser after last year, but it will be tough. What do you think is our toughest?

— Gerald Goblirsch

I do expect the Chargers will be a tough matchup enhanced by the compelling storyline of McCarthy facing Harbaugh, his former college coach.

That placement of a West Coast game on Thursday Night Football after an incredibly tough Week 7 game is eerily familiar to Minnesota's first two (of only three) regular-season losses in 2024 (home against the Lions and at the L.A. Rams). Although the venues are the same in 2025, the team colors and logos will be different. I do anticipate a strong showing of support from the "Cali-Vikings" based on previous trips to the area.

The caveat is those two games are expected to be tough and be followed by two more that are also expected to be major challenges, as opposed to last year when the Vikings were able to reset the deck and start a nine-game winning streak with three consecutive wins against struggling teams from the AFC South.

This time around, the Vikings host the defending Super Bowl Champion Eagles, visit the Wild Card Chargers, make the annual trip to the Motor City to face Detroit and host the Baltimore Ravens.

That four-pack of teams accounted for four playoff berths, three division titles and 52 regular-season victories (out of 68 possible).

I can't think of a tougher (at least on paper and based on last year's results) four-game stretch in my 11 previous seasons here. Not too many wins come easy in the NFL, but that right there is a gauntlet.

I have submitted a few opinions in the past (for example: let Kirk Cousins go because he was not a playoff-winning QB and most recently let Sam Darnold go because he was not a QB that we could trust in big games. In fact, I'm not sure that he will be the QB for Seattle when they play the Vikings this season). With this being said, and you are hearing this first from me, after following/loving my Vikings for 55 years now, I predict that our Vikings will reach again and finally win the Super Bowl this season!

— Craig in Phoenix, Arizona

Based on the success of the 2024 squad and Minnesota's approach to adding on both sides of the line of scrimmage, as well as continuing to foster an environment beneficial to QBs, there's no reason not to have high hopes.

Will things go well enough to do something no Vikings team has done? I don't know, but I know that's the goal and not a pipedream. Coaches, players and ownership remain committed to making history.

As mentioned, the team has an incredibly challenging schedule on the way.

Albert Breer, who now pens the Monday Morning Quarterback, was in town last week for the owners meeting and participated in an interview with VEN's Tatum Everett.

Breer pointed out that some seasons can have some significant discrepancies, where 11 wins by a team facing one slate of games might be more impressive than 12, 13, or 14, based on degree of difficulty.

The scheduled makers have Cousins and his new team coming to U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 2 in what will be an anticipated starting QB matchup between 2024 top-10 picks McCarthy and Michael Penix, Jr., as well as the Week 13 trip to Seattle, where Darnold signed a multi-year deal. Definitely wish Darnold well, as I still do Cousins, because I'll always appreciate what both committed toward trying to be the best at their craft and help the squad.

When the 2024 schedule was released, I was excited about the team only playing in one prime-time game do the curse of the big-game lights. This team is a lunchpail group that excels on noon Sundays. This may have contributed to the four Super Bowl losses. My question is if I can see this, can the coaching staff set up practices so when they play at these times, they are prepared for the late starts? 100% behind this team. Of three of our four losses last year, two were flexed into night games. Could have been wins? SKOL.

— Tom Black in Des Moines, Iowa

And …

I was reading [the May 19] Mailbag, and your response to one of the questions alarmed me more than a little concerning prime-time games this year.

I have been saying for years that the Vikes are somewhere between mediocre to downright horrid (W/L record) if the game is not played Sunday at noon. The NFL awarding multiple prime-time slots to the Vikes does concern me more than a little.

Secondly, how much would an average Joe have to spend to do a Vikings Ireland package?

— Darin from West Fargo, North Dakota

Combining these questions because of how much overlap there is.

One of the biggest surprises for me from the schedule was back-to-back appearances in prime time out of the gate, but that does confirm the interest level in this team. Minnesota's willing participation in back-to-back international games created two more exclusive-window games with sides of breakfast here stateside.

The Vikings have done well in that time slot, going 2-0 under O'Connell.

As for prime time, there are a few factors involved. Being on the road in such contests has yielded few positive outcomes, going back beyond the O'Connell era.

In the past 25 seasons (since 2000), the Vikings have played 78 regular-season games that started at 6 p.m. (CT) or later, and the team is 31-47, for a win percentage of .397 that is a far drop from Minnesota's a .532-win percentage (214-188-2) in all regular-season games since 2000.

The Vikings are 19-14 in 33 home prime-time games and 12-33 in road prime-time contests.

Under O'Connell, Minnesota is 4-7 when playing in prime time, but three of those losses were in 2023 after the season-ending injury to Cousins. Minnesota is 4-2 at home and 0-5 on the road in prime time since 2022.

O'Connell and the health and performance staff have done well in helping players manage international travel so far. The approach when playing one game in London has been to power through. It will be interesting to see how that changes with the team switching time zones for a much longer period of time.

As for the cost of the trip to Ireland, there's many variables that could factor into that, including length of stay, which days a person could travel, lodging amenities sought.

I did a quick search last week, flying from Fargo to Dublin for a Wednesday to Tuesday (personal experience has taught me that those days are often the best days to find flight deals) span, and there were options of a flight plus lodging for between $900 (multiple airport transfers required) and $4,500 for the do-it-yourselfers out there. That did not include ground transportation, luggage, food & drink or game tickets.

There also were some travel packages offered for a more turnkey experience, through On Location, the official fan travel partner of the NFL. Priority access for Dublin and London packages is sold out, but there is a waitlist opportunity.

As far as tickets, those aren't on sale yet, but the Steelers are the home team and have the lead role in most ticket inventory. One thing that could help tickets a bit is the capacity of Croke Park, which at 82,300 is considerably larger than most NFL venues, but there also is likely to be high demand for the NFL's first regular-season game in Ireland.

This page through the NFL offers fans a chance to sign up to receive news and ticket information.

How well will Sam Howell fit in this offense and QB room?

— Mike from Savannah, Georgia

The QBs have been busy in the playbook to go along with making some throws on air that are permitted in Phase 2 of the offseason workout program. I honestly haven't even had the chance to even tell Sam Howell welcome to Minnesota. I'm looking forward to seeing him answer this question because it is clear the Vikings did their due diligence on him.

I thoroughly recommend watching the entire "Behind-the-Scenes of the 2025 NFL Draft" video below. If you are in a rush, however, I'll call out the 7:30 time stamp, which shows footage from the draft room on Friday night.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah reacts to a development — Seattle drafted QB Jalen Milroe at 92, by the way — and says, smiling, "Howell, though."

Adofo-Mensah was able to move from 97 to 102 and select Tai Felton (whom they would have been happy with at 97) and acquire additional capital that eventually resulted in the Saturday trade for Howell.

If you are jumping around in the video, you should make sure to pick up the 11:48 mark. Trust me.

It's a little before the trade for Howell occurs.

Quick question: Will the Vikes & Pats have a joint practice together prior to the preseason game on August 16? If so, what day & time, and is it open to the public??

Thanks,

— Dan Hagerty

It was reported last week during the owners meeting that the Vikings and Patriots plan to host joint practices in the days leading up to the preseason game on Saturday, Aug. 16.

The team has not announced any dates for training camp, but we'll definitely provide those once things are finalized.

Based on previous history, which has value considering Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel was leading Tennessee when the Titans visited for practices and a preseason game in 2023, there's been a precedent of teams that play on a Saturday having practices on Wednesday and Thursday, then resting Friday.

The Vikings also have a history of welcoming guests to joint practices, so stay tuned and we'll provide the info soon.

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