The Biggest Questions Hanging over Vikings Training Camp

Minnesota Vikings training camp gets underway at the end of July, and fans can join the fun on August 1st in Eagan. That’s about a month away, so it’s time to look at the lingering questions ahead of the event.

Ranked in ascending order of importance (No. 1 = most important), these are the top questions before training camp.

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5. Is the OLB All Set or Looking for One More Guy?

This one is pretty damn straightforward. Will the Vikings use recently converted DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins on the EDGE? Or are those just best-laid plans in June? Is rookie Jake Golday ready to play a hybrid ILB-OLB role immediately? What about Bo Richter? Can he be trusted with the OLB3 job?

Minnesota’s OLB situation fundamentally changed the moment it traded Jonathan Greenard. It’s now Andrew Van Ginkel, Dallas Turner — and question marks.

If the Vikings want an EDGE defender from free agency, these are the options:

• Derek Barnett
• Jadeveon Clowney
• Marcus Davenport
• Leonard Floyd
• Von Miller
• Yannick Ngakoue
• Haason Reddick
• Kyle Van Noy

Zone Coverage’s Zac Scholl wrote last week, “Looking at Minnesota’s needs still this offseason, it’s hard to ignore the edge-rusher room. There is still plenty of veteran talent left in free agency, including Jihad Ward, who previously played a depth role for them.”

The Vikings have just over $13 million in cap space if they want one more outside linebacker. That’s more than enough for any man on the list above.

4. Who Gets Extensions?

In good faith, these players can knock on new general manager Nolan Teasley’s door this summer and ask for contract extensions:

• Jordan Addison (WR)
• Blake Brandel (C)
• Blake Cashman (ILB)
• Jordan Mason (RB)
• Brian O’Neill (RT)
• Isaiah Rodgers (CB)
• Andrew Van Ginkel (OLB)
• Jay Ward (S)

O’Neill feels like a no-brainer to extend. But who else will Teasley green-light? His decision will reveal his team-building philosophy, as he picks and chooses who to retain for the long haul in his first few months on the job.

3. Will Harrison Smith Return?

The fact that Smith hasn’t told the Vikings about his return-or-retirement plans is bizarre. C.J. Ham called it quits. So did Adam Thielen. If Smith was ready to walk away, wouldn’t he have vamoosed along with those men, his pals?

The evidence suggests that Smith will return for one more hurrah. But the question is when. Next week? August? Midseason?

2. Is Caleb Banks Ready to Roll?

Banks has the talent to become an All-Pro someday; the only question is when he’ll actually play.

Training camp will offer the first real hint. If he looks good and moves freely, everything will be fine, and concerns about his pre-draft foot injury will be moot. Otherwise, the Vikings might place him on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

Minnesota surprised everyone in April by drafting Banks, who has been recovering from back-to-back foot injuries. Most analysts had predicted they would select Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman, but that popular prediction never materialized.

All eyes turn to Banks’s game-readiness because the Vikings, a team that has not drafted well in the last half-decade, cannot afford to miss on a 1st-Rounder who had a very vivid and recent injury history leading up to the draft.

The gamble must be worth it. Banks cannot have a redshirt year.

Our Kyle Joudry recently noted, “Minnesota tends to be ultra cautious with injuries. Back in 2025, Justin Jefferson missed almost all of training camp due to a desire to ensure the WR1 was fully healthy. The plan worked…but created another issue. J.J. McCarthy sometimes struggled to find his most dangerous weapon, lacking some degree of chemistry with the receiver.”

“Might some more work together have been helpful? Quite possibly, but the Vikings were being very careful with their top player. Oh, and that McCarthy kid was kept in bubble wrap for a decent portion of the year. The Vikings appeared quite reluctant to push him too hard.”

1. Who Wins the QB Battle?

Will it be Kyler Murray or J.J. McCarthy? That question is on Vikings fans’ minds, a group that hasn’t experienced a true quarterback battle in 12 years, when Matt Cassel, Christian Ponder, and Teddy Bridgewater did battle.

Murray is the frontrunner, but always remember, life would be so much easier if McCarthy showed up to Year No. 3 and balled out.

You can tentatively circle Murray as the starter, but McCarthy won’t go down without a fight. The quarterback battle remains the item that will put butts on bleachers in Eagan.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker