Getty
There's one guy who always seems to get the best of the Minnesota Vikings on the field, and it's actually a surprising one.
It’s shaping up to be an exciting season for the Minnesota Vikings, and the team is overall looking good heading towards September. Head coach Kevin O’Connell is an offensive-minded coach who knows how to stack the roster, and he’s shaping a notable squad around J.J. McCarthy as the clock ticks down to September.
But, there’s one guy who somehow usually get the best of the Vikings. Thankfully, the Vikings only play his team during the offseason in 2025, but it’s still interesting to note.
A Thorn in the Side of the Minnesota Vikings
In a June 4 feature for PFF, Dalton Wasserman notes every NFL team’s Achilles’ heel from the past few seasons. It’s a fascinating piece, because it points out the NFL player who has performed best against each NFL team. Some of these players are surprising, including the guy for the Minnesota Vikings.
In the piece, they look at the highest-graded player, offensive or defensive, against each NFL team over the past five seasons. “The only requirement is that said player has to have played at least 100 snaps against a team, effectively ensuring that at least two games occurred between the opponents,” Wasserman states.
For the Vikings, it’s Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. How weird is that?
“Something about facing the Minnesota Vikings brings out the best in Tennessee’s Jeffery Simmons,” Wasserman notes. “He has played against them only twice, but he recorded the two highest single-game PFF pass-rush grades of his career in those outings: 92.6 in Week 11 of 2024 and 92.3 in Week 3 of 2020.”
He adds that during those two matchups, Simmons generated 14 pressures and a 22% pass-rush win rate. So, of course, it’s a good thing the Vikings don’t have to go up against the Titans and Simmons this season.
A Reason for Optimism for the Vikings
The Vikings have plenty of reasons to be optimistic in 2025, and in a separate June 10 feature for PFF, Wasserman gives a reason for optimism for each NFL team in 2025. The reasons usually have to do with certain players who are expected to help their teams immensely, and when it comes to the Vikings, he could have gone with a range of positives.
“Every NFL team will enter the 2025 season with a clean slate — no wins, no losses,” he stated in the story. “While those records will shift dramatically in the following weeks, each franchise has some hope of finding success until then.”
For the Vikings, it’s all about McCarthy being healthy and back in the fold. In the piece, he notes that McCarthy “didn’t get to play any regular-season snaps due to a knee injury, but he looked promising in his lone preseason start on his way to an 84.0 PFF passing grade.”
Wasserman added, “There is no obstacle to McCarthy starting, and he should be able to succeed in Kevin O’Connell’s play-action-heavy attack.” It will be fantastic to see what O’Connell can do to help McCarthy thrive.
During his last two seasons with the Wolverines, McCarthy had a 91.7 play-action PFF passing grade. Hopefully he’ll really show his stuff this season.
Anne Erickson is an award-winning reporter for Heavy Sports covering the NFL, NBA and college football. Anne Erickson has years of experience covering the NFL and additional sports, and her work has been published via ESPN, Fox Sports and more. She has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports, including Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Erickson also hosts several podcasts and is a Detroit-based radio host. More about Anne Erickson
