A pre-OTA depth chart analysis

Looking at the biggest questions on the roster going into the spring portion of the schedule

Nov 3, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) warms up before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

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By Matthew Coller

The Minnesota Vikings will open OTAs this week at TCO Performance Center and spent the next four weeks in the spring program, which includes a handful of practices open to the media.

Here’s a look at the Vikings roster and the biggest questions for OTAs/minicamp for each position…

Quarterback

Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz, JJ McCarthy, Max Brosmer

Biggest OTA/minicamp question: What does the “QB competition” look like?

Kevin O’Connell has often referred to OTAs and minicamp as being the “teaching phase” of the season, so it’s hard to expect to come away with any answers about the quarterback position. Normally we see a lot of rotating between starters and backup wide receivers and there aren’t many 11-on-11 full-speed reps.

If there is any extreme rep difference between Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy, then it will be notable.

That doesn’t mean we can’t get a sense for how the quarterbacks look. This will be Murray’s first time throwing to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jauan Jennings and it will be our first viewing of McCarthy after he spent the offseason working on his throwing, including 1-on-1 sessions with Jefferson.

Conclusions absolutely can’t be drawn from this time of year but it will set the stage for training camp. The assumption would be that if Murray gives KOC confidence in his command of the offense that he will open camp as the starter. We’ll see if there’s any evidence to the contrary on the way.

Running back

Jordan Mason, Aaron Jones, Zavier Scott, Demond Claiborne,

Biggest OTA/minicamp question: Can we get a look Claiborne?

While Mason and Jones will be in the process of learning an adjusted run game, the guy to watch is the sixth-rounder who ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Claiborne flashed some of his athletic prowess at rookie camp but will it translate over to when the entire team is on the field?

Without pads on, we can only get a feeling for how a running back moves and whether they are catching the ball out of the backfield but we’ll look to check those boxes with the rookie.

Wide receiver

Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jauan Jennings, Tai Felton, Myles Price, Dontae Fleming, Jeshaun Jones

Biggest OTA/minicamp question: Chemistry between Jefferson/Addison and the QBs, the depth battle

Both QBs are in different spots coming into their first real throwing sessions with the Vikings top receivers. Murray is just starting to learn about how they run their routes in relationship to the concepts in KOC’s offense but he has a long history of being one of the most accurate QBs in the NFL (9th best on-target percentage since 2020) whereas McCarthy has played with both receivers for a year but struggled to find the timing with either last year.

In the coming weeks of OTAs and minicamp, we’ll be looking for how the early connection between QB/WR looks.

While we know the WR1/WR2/WR3 starters, it’s totally unclear what the rest of the depth chart is going to look like. We should expect second-year receiver Tai Felton to make a case for taking a step forward. Minicamp is the time that we saw previous breakout draft picks KJ Osborn and Jalen Nailor start to show signs.

Will anyone else grab our attention? Last year Fleming flashed a few times in training camp and the Vikings brought in a herd of UDFAs to battle for position. As we saw from Myles Price last year, we shouldn’t write those guys off. Dillon Bell from Georgia and Marcus Sanders Jr. are two UDFAs that stood out in rookie camp.

Tight end

TJ Hockenson, Josh Oliver, Ben Yurosek, Gavin Bartholomew, Bryson Nesbit

Biggest OTA/minicamp question: Will Kyler Murray treat Hockenson like Trey McBride? Can McCarthy find him? What does Bartholomew look like?

Because of his production drop, there has been some thought that Hockenson has dropped off but in 2024 and 2025 he showed at times that he can still be an impact player — when the quarterback could find him. Can McCarthy show signs of leaning more on the tight end position when underneath passes present themselves?

In Arizona, Murray helped McBride become a prolific tight end. Will he have the same type of effect in Minnesota with Hockenson? We can expect Hock to be moving around a lot within the offense, just as McBride did in AZ.

In terms of intrigue from other players, Gavin Bartholomew is at the top of the list. Last year he suffered a back injury in rookie camp and did not appear in a game for the entire season. So it’s like gaining a draft pick. Will we see some flashes of athleticism that we expected last year?

Tackle

Christian Darrisaw, Brian O’Neill, Ryan Van Demark, Caleb Tiernan, Walter Rouse

Biggest OTA/minicamp question: Darrisaw health update, first impressions of new players, and is Rouse still at tackle? O’Neill extension?

At the end of 2025, the Vikings shut down Darrisaw after a season of him battling to get his torn ACL injury fully back to 100%. While judging his knee from OTAs/minicamp practices is impossible, we may get an update from him or KOC about his recovery process this offseason.

The Vikings made two big additions to their tackle depth so it will be interesting to see where they fit in. Also there was some chatter of Rouse playing guard. Will he be inside now that Van Demark and Tiernan are here?

Will the Vikings address an extension for Brian O’Neill? He’s more than deserving based on his play but a new GM will be in place soon and they will have to make a call on a very good veteran leader.

Guard

Donovan Jackson, Will Fries, Joe Huber, Henry Byrd, Vershon Lee

Biggest OTA/minicamp question: Will the Vikings add a veteran in June?

Even if they are planning to have Rouse compete at guard or Tiernan get cross trained, it would be pretty surprising if the Vikings left the backup guard spots entirely up to inexperienced players.

Will they add a veteran free agent after some cap space opens up post-June 1? There are a handful of proven backup types still on the market like Greg Van Roten, Michael Jordan and Alex Cappa.

Center

Blake Brandel, Michael Jurgens, Gavin Gerhardt

Biggest OTA/minicamp question: Same question — is a veteran on the way?

The Vikings seem comfortable with Blake Brandel and Michael Jurgens at center after Brandel played reasonably well down the stretch considering the circumstances in 2025. Jurgens also got his feet wet at the position last year. Will they look for an insurance policy in the spring with another center or are they rolling with the three that they have on the roster?