Two Veteran Defensive Tackles Who Could Be Game-Changers for Vikings

There's a lot of offseason left, including a draft where the Vikings have four top-100 picks. But as things stand right now, this is a Minnesota roster with a few glaring needs.

One of those is at defensive tackle. Gone are veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, who weren't great fits in 2025 and were released for cap savings one year into big multi-year free agent contracts. The Vikings' only addition so far is former Canadian Football League standout Jaylon Hutchings, who has some upside but also zero NFL snaps to his name.

Here's what the current projected depth chart at DT looks like.

Position	Starter	Backup
DE/DT	Jalen Redmond	Elijah Williams
NT	Levi Drake Rodriguez	Taki Taimani
DE/DT	Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins	Jaylon Hutchings

For as great as Redmond was last season, that's a very shaky six-man group that is severely lacking in proven NFL contributors. The good news, as mentioned earlier, is that there's still over five months until the season begins. And whether additions come via the draft or late free agency or trade, there's no chance the DT depth chart remains unchanged when Week 1 arrives.

When looking at the defensive tackles who are still on the free agent market, two names stand out. Let's dive into both of them.

Christian Wilkins

Wilkins is very much a wild card in this NFL offseason. After emerging as one of the better defensive tackles in football over his first five seasons, the former first-round pick has played a total of five games over the past two seasons. He signed a four-year, $110 million deal with the Raiders in free agency two years ago, only to suffer a season-ending foot injury in Week 5.

Then things got a bit stranger. Wilkins, while still recovering from the foot injury, was released by Las Vegas last summer after an incident in which he apparently kissed a teammate on the head, making the player uncomfortable. There have also been questions about the effort he's put into the rehab from his injury. Wilkins has remained unsigned and away from football since last July, meaning he hasn't played a full season since 2023.

The latest update from Wilkins' agent, via insider/agent mouthpiece Adam Schefter, is that he's still rehabbing the foot injury and has been contacted by 26 teams, who are waiting for him to be ready.

There are obviously major questions lingering here between the foot injury and the off-the-field incident with the Raiders. But if anyone is going to feel like they can get a grasp on the situation, it might just be Brian Flores. The Vikings' defensive coordinator was the Dolphins' head coach when they drafted Wilkins 13th overall out of Clemson in 2019. Wilkins was an important player for Flores for three seasons, then hit new heights in 2022 and especially in 2023, when he had 9 sacks and 61 pressures as a pass rusher.

The Vikings had real interest in Wilkins two years ago before he was priced out of their plans. It's possible that interest could still exist. They'd need to feel comfortable with his medicals and with bringing him into their culture, but Wilkins may still have plenty of gas left in the tank at age 30. It's something that's at least worth keeping in mind.

D.J. Reader

A veteran DT with less mystery surrounding him is Reader, who has been a standout nose tackle in the NFL for a decade now. He was a fifth-round pick out of Clemson in 2016 and spent his four-year rookie contract with the Texans. He then signed a four-year deal with the Bengals, and after getting hurt in 2020, he continued to shine as one of the league's best NTs. Most recently, Reader spent two seasons with the Lions.

Reader turns 32 in July and isn't the same player he once was in Houston or Cincinnati, but he's been a perfectly solid rotational player over the last couple years in Detroit. Listed at 6'3" and 330 pounds, he can still eat up blocks, stop the run, and push the pocket as a pass rusher. He's recorded at least 20 QB pressures in each of his last eight healthy seasons.

There's always the risk of a player falling off a cliff when they get past their prime. But the Vikings have a need at nose tackle, and Reader's skill set would seem to make him a better fit for Flores' defense than Allen and Hargrave were in 2025. He could probably provide a lot of what Harrison Phillips brought to Minnesota from 2022-24.

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