Andrew Buller-Russ
Minnesota Vikings organized team activities (OTAs) are underway, and while they’re purely voluntary, there aren’t any juicy headlines of players not being in attendance. Instead, all attention is on the QB battle, even if it won’t be solved during padless practice sessions in the early summer.
Of course, the daily headlines will focus on Kyler Murray battling J.J. McCarthy for the starting quarterback job to kick off the season. Yet, with a 90-man roster (91 with International Pathway Program player Brett Thorson), there’s a lot at stake.
Aside from Murray vs McCarthy, here are other positional battles to keep an eye on at Vikings OTAs.
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Punters: Brett Thorson vs Johnny Hekker
On paper, this shouldn’t look like a competition at all. Johnny Hekker is one of this generation’s most decorated punters, heck he was named to the Hall of Fame’s ‘All 2010s’ team after being named as a first-team All-Pro selection four times and earning four Pro Bowl nods.
Yet, even though he once won a Super Bowl with coach Kevin O’Connell in Los Angeles, Hekker is also 36 years old and ranked 26th in net yards per punt in 2025. Meanwhile, Aussie Brett Thorson brings a big leg after becoming a First-Team All-American and winning the Ray Guy Award in 2025 at Georgia. Our hunch is Thorson will be the team’s punter by the time roster cuts are made, and his first chance to impress will take place at OTAs.
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TE3: Ben Yurosek vs Gavin Bartholomew
Last year’s tight end training camp battle ended early after sixth-round rookie Gavin Bartholomew suffered a back injury that caused him to miss the entire season. That cracked open the door for the undrafted Georgia rookie Ben Yurosek to make the team instead. Yurosek ended up making 12 appearances and playing well in limited duty, and surely has the early advantage over the inexperienced Bartholomew. Yet, the Vikings clearly liked something about the 23-year-old when they picked him, and we’d guess nothing has changed since.
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Safety: Jay Ward vs Theo Jackson vs Jakobe Thomas
This is the biggest positional battle to watch on defense, and the most important one, aside from QB1 of course. While Harrison Smith could always realize he still has the itch to play another season around training camp, for now, the young players will get extremely valuable reps in Brian Flores’ defense.
The question is, who steps up? Because, by all appearances, Smith won’t be making a heroic comeback, meaning players like Jay Ward and Theo Jackson are likely to have bigger roles in 2026. Yet, third-round rookie Jakobe Thomas has a chance to make the conversation interesting. Three safeties will likely see a heavy amount of snaps in coach Flores’ defense, so it’s just a matter of who earns them alongside Josh Metellus.
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Edge Rusher: Bo Richter vs Tyler Batty vs ?
Trading Jonathan Greenard was made possible by Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner’s emergence, but it also opened up a new hole in the Vikings’ defense. Who will be the team’s third edge rusher? A free agency addition could join them. Jake Golday could provide a solution, but he’s also a rookie and entirely unproven.
Otherwise, the Vikings have a trio of former undrafted candidates in Bo Richter, Tyler Batty, and Chaz Chambliss, and the latter is the only one who’s recorded an NFL sack. Richter has played in 31 games, and Batty and Chambliss has 12 appearances, all in 2025. Two other rookie UDFAs joined the Vikings after the draft. Opportunities are ripe for the taking, so who wants them the most?
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