While Kevin O’Connell’s 2024 squad greatly outperformed preseason expectations overall, it was clear all season that their interior offensive and defensive fronts left plenty to be desired, a problem that has persisted for pretty much the past decade.

So, they went on a mission to fix both sides of their trenches this week, when the opening bell rang on NFL free agency, signing two top 15 free agents (The Athletic Top 150), former Commander Jonathan Allen and former Niner Javon Hargrave. The new guys will join veteran team leader Harrison Phillips, who is scheduled to return as part of the upgraded defensive line.

Jerry Tillery leaves Minnesota Vikings for the Chiefs

Other interior defensive linemen from last season’s team, like one of last offseason’s bargain bin free agency pickups Jerry Tillery, are moving on to new workspaces for 2025. On Friday, the former first round pick found his new employer in the AFC West, Super Bowl runner ups, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Sources: The #Chiefs are signing former #Chargers 1st-round DT Jerry Tillery to a 1-year deal.

Good depth add to the Kansas City D-Line, as Tillery has recorded 12.5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles in 50 career starts. pic.twitter.com/9aysyt3zdK

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) March 14, 2025

Tillery is heading back to the AFC West after spending the first three-plus seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2019-2021, after they selected him 28th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. He lasted three and a half seasons there before being dealt to the Las Vegas Raiders. In his career, Jerry Tillery has 96 NFL games under his belt, including 50 starts.

With the MN Vikings, Tillery recorded 28 tackles and three QB hits, while failing to record a single sack for the first time in his 6-year NFL career, which includes 12.5 total sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 40 QB hits in 50 starts (96 total games).

Related: Vikings Signing Very Familiar Free Agent Linebacker

Like the Vikings, Kansas City is bringing in Tillery hoping to extract some additional value from a player once seen with immense upside. Maybe his fourth stop will be where he can put it all together. In Kansas City it stands to reason that Tillery will start alongside defensive tackle Chris Jones.

Vikings’ d-line overhaul appears complete

Last season, the Vikings signed the former Notre Dame beefeater to a one-year deal worth $2.75 million. Tillery was OK, but you get what you pay for. One year later, with money to spend, General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Minnesota Vikings have already moved on to better things.

Jonathan Allen with the spinning back fist sack pic.twitter.com/tl1kqBvaGm

— mike (@bengals_sans) July 5, 2024

Harrison Phillips is in the final year of his two-year, $15 million contract he agreed to with Minnesota last season. Supplementing his presence with both Allen and Hargrave is huge. The Vikings have gotten just 6.5 sacks from Phillips over the past three seasons.

Related: Minnesota Vikings Hosting Young WR on Free Agency Visit

One year after he accumulated 92 tackles (2023), the MN Vikings saw Phillips’ production slip down to 56 in that same category last year. In 2025, the newly signed Allen and Hargrave bring a combined 97.5 career sacks to the defensive front.

There was never any inclination that Minnesota had interest in retaining Tillery. He goes elsewhere, and Brian Flores has to feel excited about the group he can consistently roll out in the year ahead.

Can Jerry Tillery resurrect his first-round pedigree for the Minnesota Vikings?

Until the games are played, current defensive tackle Jerry Tillery could be the solution to generate more pressure from the interior, at least according to Alec Lewis (The Athletic). Tillery was originally drafted in the first-round by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019. In addition to his time with the Chargers, he also played two seasons for the Las Vegas Raiders before signing with the Minnesota Vikings this offseason.

To increase interior pressure this season, the #Vikings could use Jerry Tillery, uptick in stunts in games, and infusing more of the edge rushers, per @Alec_Lewis 🤔

“One quick answer might be Jerry Tillery, who ranked 88th on that list. Plug him in, and the Vikings should… pic.twitter.com/k4F6WbNC1T

— The Purple Persuasion (@TPPSkol) June 29, 2024

“One quick answer might be Jerry Tillery, who ranked 88th on that list. Plug him in, and the Vikings should penetrate further, even if he is nowhere close to the stratosphere occupied by Quinnen Williams, Chris Jones or Aaron Donald.

Alec Lewis (The Athletic)

Although Tillery has failed to live up to his first-round pedigree, Tillery did post a 67.5 pass rush grade per PFF. Not great but not terrible either. For reference, Phillips and Dean Lowry each put up a pass rush grade of 53.6 in 2023. This was highest on the team, for the interior defensive line, for players over 100 snaps.

Related: Report: Minnesota Vikings Plan to Sign Familiar Running Back

It still remains to be seen whether or not Tillery will even make the roster after training camp this year. He was given a one-year deal worth up to $3.75M but got $1.47M in guaranteed money.

He’ll definitely have to prove himself for the remainder of the offseason if he wants to make the team, but Lewis thinks he could be the “quick answer” for improvement for the interior pass rushing unit compared to last season.

If not Jerry Tillery, what else can the Minnesota Vikings do to improve their interior pass rush?

If not Tillery, the Minnesota Vikings could see an increase in their use of stunts. Lewis noted that defensive coordinator Brian Flores opted for a max-pressure, max-coverage approach, but the defensive line movement seemed mostly vanilla. In 2023, the Vikings used pass stunts on 23% of their defensive snaps (27th in the NFL), according to PFF, whereas Flores’ 2021 Miami Dolphins used pass stunts on 30% of the snaps (3rd in the NFL).

Related: Do the Minnesota Vikings Have a QB Competition?

In addition to more stunts, Lewis lastly noted that the improvement in the edge-rushing unit could pay dividends as well. Although the Minnesota Vikings lost longtime veteran Danielle Hunter, they did infuse the roster with two solid edge rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel in free agency, while also drafting Dallas Turner in the first-round of the 2024 NFL draft.

It seems like if these solutions or ideas do not improve the interior pass rush on the defensive line this upcoming season, it might finally be time to invest some big money or draft capital for a game-changing defensive tackle in 2025.

The 6-foot-6, 295-pound defensive lineman entered the league as the 28th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft with the Los Angeles Chargers. After appearing in 54 games but starting just 29 across three seasons in L.A., the Chargers let him go.

“Jerry Tillery is the perfect example of a guy with tremendous upside and talent who has just never been able to live up to expectations. He has never been able to seize a full-time three-down role, and even as a complementary piece, he demonstrates flashes of brilliance but is a disappearing act in others. What he has probably become most known for as of late is committing bone-head penalties at critical moments in games. This was one of the major reasons that the Los Angeles Chargers waived him mid-season in 2022.”

Ryan Dyrud – Founder of LAFBNetwork.com

Once he hit the waiver wire, the Las Vegas Raiders were eager to scoop up the former first-round pick out of Notre Dame, and he quickly proved to be valuable as a run defender, recording 13 ‘stops’ in 504 snaps.

Prior to joining the Raiders, Pro Football Focus had never graded Tillery higher than 50. Then he had a mini breakout in 2023, when he was given a 67.7 grade and ranked 40th out of 130 players, higher than all other interior Vikings defenders on the roster.

Tillery, 27, is coming off his best season yet as a pro, so the Vikings could either be buying in at the perfect time or getting fool’s gold. Yet, for a cost of just under $4 million, likely with only a small portion of that amount guaranteed, it’s worth a gamble. Especially for a defensive front that has few proven commodities.

• Jerry Tillery’s stats (2023): 31 tackles (2 TFL), 2 Sacks, 6 QB Hits, 1 FR

Don’t expect Tillery’s minuscule one-year contract to impact the Vikings’ plans in the NFL Draft, where addressing the defensive interior remains a big need. Yet, each addition the team makes allows for more flexibility, including offering a king’s ransom to move up the draft board for a QB prospect the front office really likes.

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