Vikings Already Having Buyer’s Remorse on $30 Million Offseason Addition

When the 2025 free agency kicked off in the spring, one of the first orders of business for the Minnesota Vikings was to bolster the team's defensive line quality and depth. Despite punching above their weight on the defensive side of the ball last season, the Vikings lacked disruptors on the interior defensive line. That is why they went out and signed Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen early in the offseason. So far, however, Hargrave is proving why his former team, the San Francisco 49ers, released him with two seasons left on his four-year, $84 million contract.

After a decent start against the Chicago Bears last week, Hargrave came down to earth against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, delivering an abysmal performance during the disappointing home loss. Hargrave was a non-factor most of the game, alongside his fellow offseason addition, Allen. Neither player put enough pressure on Atlanta's offensive line nor got to Michael Penix Jr. throughout the game. The worst of all, however, was his run defense against the Falcons' talented backfield.

Javon Hargrave Was the Vikings' Weakest Link on Defense

Despite having a less-than-potent offense, the Falcons were able to get the yards they needed from their ground game all night. Through the competitive portion of the game (until Atlanta took a 22-6 lead with 3:22 to go in the fourth), Bijan Robinson ran for 143 yards on 22 carries, and Tyler Allgeier added 67 yards on 13 attempts for Atlanta's 210 rushing yards for the game, averaging a whopping six yards per rush.

For his part, Hargrave received a 30.0 run defense grade on Pro Football Focus in 28 defensive snaps that were categorized as run defense snaps. This contributed to his overall 30.8 defensive grade on PFF in 48 snaps. His stat line also included one missed tackle. Even though he added 2 QB hurries and four tackles, Hargrave left plenty to be desired, finishing the game as the lowest-graded Viking per PFF.

Last season, Minnesota had a major weakness on the defensive line; its interior defensive linemen finished the campaign with the fifth-fewest pressures and second-fewest sacks in the league. Giving Hargrave a two-year, $30 million contract was supposed to help fix this problem. So far, the former 49er hasn't been able to live up to those expectations. If anything, the Vikings' run defense may have gotten significantly worse as a direct result of the addition of the 32-year-old.

It's still very early in the season, and there is plenty of time for the Vikings defense and Hargrave to turn things around. For the former two-time Pro Bowler to not be considered a bust, he has to quickly forget about his SNF performance and improve significantly upon it.

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