Top five most valuable people for Minnesota Vikings in 2024

Injuries derailed the Minnesota Vikings 2023 season pretty early on, but the team has since made some key personnel changes in hopes of making it back to the playoffs this season.

Here are the franchise’s five most valuable people in 2024:

5. Edge-rusher Dallas Turner

Losing top pass-rusher Danielle Hunter to the Houston Texans was a big blow to an already average Vikings defense, but drafting Turner with their second first-round pick is a solid way to make up for it.

Turner was dominant at Alabama, logging 55 pressures, 33 hurries, 14.5 tackles for loss, 11 QB hits and 10 sacks, per Pro Football Focus — showing the kind of pass-rush prowess Minnesota’s defense has been missing over the years, minus Hunter’s contributions. The Vikings could really benefit from Turner turning in a similar rookie year to the one Will Anderson had for the Texans last season, in which he totaled 59 pressures, 38 hurries, 14 QB hits and seven sacks and won Defensive Rookie of the Year.

4. Running back Aaron Jones

Alexander Mattison was clearly not the heir apparent to Dalvin Cook, which is why he was released and the Vikings pounced on Jones once the Packers cut him loose. From 2019 to 2022, Jones was one of the more productive backs in the NFL, ranking fifth in the league in receiving yards (1,615), receptions (207) and targets (268), sixth in rushing yards (4,108) and yards per carry (5.0) and eighth in rushing touchdowns (31) over that span.

Though he’s got more mileage now than he did when he was in his prime, Jones is still a significant upgrade over Mattison and having a solid every-down back to hand the ball off to should help whichever quarterback is taking snaps under center.

3. Edge-rusher Jonathan Greenard

Like Turner, there’s a lot of pressure on Greenard to be the straw that stirs the drink when it comes to Minnesota’s pass-rush. He had a breakout year in Houston in 2023, accounting for 48 pressures, 24 hurries, 10 QB hits and 12.5 sacks, and if anyone is going to make up for Hunter’s lost sack production immediately, it’ll be Greenard.

The 27-year-old edge-rusher has had eight or more sacks in two of his last three seasons, and he can certainly be the player who sets the tone coming off the edge. With Minnesota’s top two sackers last year, Hunter and D.J. Wonnum, both on other teams, the pressure will be on Greenard (and Turner) to pick up their torch.

2. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson

No one knows what to expect from the Vikings offense with Kirk Cousins now in Atlanta and either Sam Darnold or rookie J.J. McCarthy taking over as the starter. But the good news is whoever is throwing the ball, they’ll have one of the top three receivers in the NFL to one side and promising second-year wideout Jordan Addison on the other.

Jefferson is a true game-changer who can flip a defense on its head with one play. He only played in 10 games last year but still had 1,000 yards receiving. With the uncertainty at QB, Jefferson’s importance to the Vikings will only be amplified next season.

1. Whoever the quarterback is

The Vikings will likely start the year with Darnold as QB1 but things could go south quickly, at which point, expect to see McCarthy get thrown into the fire. Darnold does have 66 games of NFL experience under his belt, so he could work well in a game-manager role and his job could be made a lot easier by just getting the ball to Jefferson, Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson as quickly as possible.

If McCarthy ends up playing a significant amount, Minnesota has likely given up on the season (Darnold injury notwithstanding). Even if the Vikings are out of the playoff hunt, any reps McCarthy can get against a live defense and reps used to build a rapport with Jefferson and Addison will go a long way toward his development.