Vikings best move in free agency puts extra pressure on Brian Flores to elevate defense to Super Bowl level

Free agency has been great for the Minnesota Vikings over the first 48 hours. Not only have the Vikings found a way to improve their team, but they might have the best group in the trenches since the 2009 season.

That group had some incredible players on it, including two Hall of Famers in Steve Hutchinson and Jared Allen, another who should be enshrined in Canton, Ohio in Kevin Williams, plus Bryant McKinnie, John Sullivan, Pat Williams, and Phil Loadholt. Yes, Brett Favre gets a lot of credit for that season, but the trenches were the biggest reason for the success of the 2009 squad.

Jonathan Allen named Vikings best free agency move

It's a difficult question to answer which Vikings signing is the best. The top five signees are all very impactful on the surface and parsing them out can get different conclusions.

Our own Evan Winter and Sam Phalen at A to Z Sports believe the decision is relatively cut and dry in defensive tackle Jonathan Allen.

Minnesota has already had a busy offseason and done a lot to improve for 2025, putting a priority on building the trenches. I think the best bang for your buck move is with defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, who was released by the Commanders but is still a game-wrecking defensive tackle that can get after the passer when healthy.

Between Allen, Javon Hargrave, Harrison Phillips, and Jonathan Greenard, the Vikings have a formidable defensive front in place. 

Allen was really good for the Washington Commanders over the last eight years. He missed 10 games last year due to a partially torn pectoral muscle, but returned for the last two games and the playoffs.

While he is 30 years old, Allen is still a capable pass rusher. Winter wrote this about Allen and it resonates with where the Vikings are at in needing an interior pass rush.

He then made a miraculous return in the playoffs and had a pretty good run - his 10 total pressures finished just behind Milton Williams and Jalen Carter in the NFC and his 21% win rate was the NFC's third-best rate among qualifying interior defensive linemen with at least 25 pass rush snaps.

Allen can take the next step with the Vikings and improve an interior pass rush that desperately needs it. Plus, it helps that he has Javon Hargrave to also rush the passer on the other side of the interior and Brian Flores is the defensive coordinator.