Under pressure: Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave should give the Vikings a much-needed interior pass rush
The Vikings haven't gotten much of a push from their defensive tackles in recent seasons, but that figures to change with the addition of two free agents.
Free agent additions Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel combined for 23.5 sacks last season as the Vikings’ 49 sacks tied for the fourth-most in the NFL. That success led to one important question: What could the Vikings have done if they had gotten an interior pass rush?
The tackles and ends in the Vikings’ 3-4 scheme combined for four sacks, including two from Harrison Phillips and one apiece from Jonathan Bullard and Jalen Redmond. The problem wasn’t new. In Brian Flores’ first season as defensive coordinator in 2023, Phillips and Bullard combined for five of the Vikings’ 43 sacks.
The Vikings’ line finished second in the NFL in rushing defense, giving up 93.4 yards a game in 2024, but that wasn’t enough. The Vikings needed guys who could make quarterbacks uncomfortable.
Enter free agent additions Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave from the Washington Commanders and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.
Allen, who is listed at 6-foot-3, 300 pounds, has 42 sacks in 109 games over eight seasons — an average of 6.6 sacks per year. He had a career-high nine in 2021. Hargrave, who is 6-2, 305 pounds, has 45.5 sacks in 130 games over nine seasons, putting him at six per season. His career high was 11 in the final of his three years with the Eagles in 2022.
Their presence should make it more difficult for opposing offensive lines to focus on Greenard and Van Ginkel and means the interior of the offensive line is going to have to concern itself with the Vikings getting a push. Flores will benefit because it should give him the ability to send fewer blitzes.
The Vikings led the NFL in blitz rate in 2023 at 50.7 percent and were second last season at 38.8 percent. Flores isn’t going to stop sending extra help, but he will be able to pick his spots if he has four guys with the potential to get to the quarterback on a consistent basis.
The Vikings have seen just how many problems can be caused by defensive tackle who is capable of getting to the quarterback. Now, they should be able to do the same.
But these signings don’t come without risk.
Allen, the 17th overall pick by Washington in the 2017 draft, turned 30 in January and is coming off a torn left pectoral muscle that limited him to eight games last season. Hargrave, a third-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2016, turned 32 in February and played in only three games last season because of a torn right triceps suffered in his second season with the 49ers.
Both were released by their teams. The Vikings, however, likely looked at the fact that Allen and Hargrave had not missed much time because of injury before last season. Allen played in 96 of a possible 99 games from 2018 to ’23, and Hargrave appeared in 127 of 131 possible games from 2016 to ’23.