Vikings Camp Journal, Day 18: Harrison Phillips traded

The Vikings pulled off a surprise trade and had a very eventful scrimmage

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — Whoa!

The Minnesota Vikings put an exclamation point on the final day of training camp by trading defensive tackle Harrison Phillips and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the New York Jets for sixth-round picks in 2026 and 2027. The Vikings also keep $3.7 million of his $7.4 million salary.

Why? A few plausible explanations:

1 — Young players’ growth. Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez had fantastic camps. In particular, Redmond was a monster. His development from last year was obvious as he made a noticeable impact on a daily basis getting into the backfield for pressures and TFLs. Rodriguez also took an enormous step forward, overpowering offensive linemen with his strength and looking a lot like, well, Harrison Phillips. We can’t discount the other DTs either. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and UDFA Elijah Williams have both stepped up. And in recent practices/preseason Taki Taimani has looked like a player who could take on nose tackle snaps as well. The talent pool is so deep in that room that they may have felt like they didn’t want to cut an elevating player.

2 — Scheme. Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen are such massively different players than the 2024 starters Jerry Tillery and Jonathan Bullard that Brian Flores may feel like it’s a better fit to play more 4-3 fronts than his traditional 3-4 and have both DTs play three-technique rather than putting a nose tackle in the game over the center. Flores is such a dynamic defensive coordinator that he’s always willing to adapt his scheme to fit his personnel. He may have looked at Phillips as the odd-man out with this scheme as Hargrave/Allen have played in 4-3 schemes for their entire careers.

3 — The sixth round pick could help with other trades. It’s not a secret by now that the Vikings are interested in trading for Adam Thielen. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that they were “making phone calls” and it was confirmed to Purple Insider on Wednesday that there had been contact between the Vikings and Panthers. One potential road block for a trade is that the Vikings did not have a fifth or sixth-round pick in 2026. Gaining another sixth could be the extra capital that they need to convince Carolina to part ways. If not Thielen, maybe another receiver on the trade block like Indy’s Alec Pierce, who may be available.

4 — Cap space. It’s not a lot of cap space in 2025 but Phillips signed an extension carrying a $9.1 million cap hit in 2026. If the Vikings believe that they have the future of the interior in house, then it’s better to get something for him now, create some cap space in the short term and hand off a fairly big cap hit to the Jets next year.

What will the Vikings miss in Phillips?

He was powerful yet nimble inside. He could move offensive linemen by jumping gaps or working leverage to create gaps for linebackers and safeties to make plays. He was a captain, a Walter Payton Man of the Year Nominee and a key communicator up front in a defense that requires a lot of adjustments.

When we look at the numbers from his two seasons under Flores, the move is more justifiable. All of these PFF grades do come with the caveat that Phillips’ role is difficult to quantify because PFF rewards splashier plays like TFLs and sacks and he is more of a complimentary player for guys like Josh Metellus, Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace Jr. to make those splash plays. Still, Phillips went from ranking 23rd of 67 starting DTs in PFF grade and 10th in run defense grade to 47th (overall) and 20th (run defense) in 2023 and 40th (overall) and 39th (run defense) in 2024.

Last year Redmond only played 208 snaps but was a top-15 run defender by PFF among full time and part-time DTs.

Bottom line: Moving Phillips is a surprise but the Vikings have been very good at identifying the right times to move on from players, especially when they feel that the fit isn’t great for what they want to do schematically. If the reasoning is rooted in young players emerging from the depth of the unit, that bodes well for the immediate and future of the D-line.

Phillips was one of the most likable players on the team over the last three years and was part of many memorable moments. He should be greatly appreciated by Vikings fans.

On to the Vikings’ final open practice of the year…

What I heard

The kick and punt returning units will be at center stage in the final preseason game for the Vikings against the Tennessee Titans. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels is looking for more than just yardage from his UDFA returners Silas Bolden and Myles Price on Friday night.

“I think the biggest thing is is our ability to track it, catch it, and decision-making,” Daniels said. “Probably ball security is going to be at a premium. Obviously, Tai Felton put the ball on the ground last week. So we'll get him back out there again, get him confident, see if we can pop one off for him so he can continue to gain confidence back there as a kick returner. And then from a part return standpoint, there's always going to be my ability to track it, my ability to catch it and making great decisions back there.”

Daniels used an example of a poor decision that Bolden made when he was trying to “cheat” on the return and the ball ended up landing at the 17 and bouncing to the 6-yard line.

Price had two good returns last week but there has been concerns about his ability to catch the punts under pressure. He dropped one during practice on Wednesday.

Still, Daniels had high praise for the way Price has acclimated himself to the team.

“All he does is loves football, very positive, you know, he's someone people want to be around,” Daniels said. “He has this contagious energy to him that you really appreciate. But he's just a flat-out football player. He's always the first one out here ready to catch pre-practice jugs, punts. Always out here post -practice, getting extra work. He understands and gets it as a young guy.”

In terms of the punting competition, Daniels said it remains close heading into the final game between Ryan Wright and Oscar Chapman.

“Right now it's a neck and neck situation, especially with Will [Reichard] being confident in the operation with [Chapman] being the holder,” Daniels said.

After practice, JJ McCarthy talked about where he stands heading into the final weeks of preparation before matching up with the Chicago Bears in Week 1. He was asked where his confidence stands after a full training camp.

“Extremely high, highest it's ever been,” McCarthy said. “Just looking at the guys around me and the coaching staff, that gives me all the confidence in the world to go out there knowing they’ve got my back and all of our backs. I just feel like I get goosebumps right now just thinking about it.”

What I saw

The Vikings held a very intense scrimmage that included 33 passes from JJ McCarthy. The offense worked on a bunch of different situations, from the red zone to starting the drive on their own 1-yard line.

Some highlights of the day included:

— An excellent “opening” drive to the practice that included several intermediate completions and a 7-for-7 start passing the ball.

— An off-balance throw to Lucky Jackson in the back of the end zone during red zone drills for a touchdown. Jackson needed that after a tough preseason game.

— Jordan Addison Moss’ing Isaiah Rodgers on a red zone touchdown that was nicely placed by McCarthy where he could go up and get it.

— A long wheel route completion to Aaron Jones that was dropped in the bucket over Jones’ head about 20 yards down field.

— A rollout completion on the move to Josh Oliver with perfect accuracy for around a 20-yard gain.

Otherwise, McCarthy was fairly conservative with the ball, finding Thayer Thomas multiple times underneath and the Vikings worked on a lot of screens. Overall, I counted 26 completions. Thomas was WR3 for the majority of the day with Tim Jones mixing in a few times. Jackson remained WR2.