The Minnesota Vikings continue to make big changes in the trenches.

After shoring up their defensive and offensive lines with the signing of defensive tackle Jonathan Allen to a three-year, $60 million contract on Monday and the inking of center Ryan Kelly to a two-year deal worth $18 million last Sunday, Minnesota has reportedly added guard Will Fries and is on the verge of adding defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.

Pelissero noted that Fries has been inked to a five-year, $88 million contract, while Hargrave is only awaiting his release from the San Francisco 49ers before fully becoming a Viking.

The 26-year-old Fries spent his first four seasons in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts. He can be considered a success story in the NFL, especially after securing his second multi-year contract in the league despite being just a seventh-round pick (248th overall) by the Colts out of the Penn State Nittany Lions football program in the 2021 NFL draft.

Article Continues Below

As part of the Colts' offensive line in 2024, Fries finished the season ranked fourth among all guards with a Pro Football Focus grade of 86.9. He was 18th overall in pass blocking (74.9) and fifth in run blocking (84.9). All those numbers suggest a big NFL free agency payday for him, and he got that from the Vikings, who ranked just 27th in the NFL last season with a high 8.98 percent offensive sack rate.

Hargrave, on the other hand, has played for the 49ers in the previous two seasons. Over that span, the 32-year-old South Carolina State Bulldogs product recorded eight sacks, 51 combined tackles and 15 quarterback hits, though, he racked up most of those digits during his 2023 Pro Bowl campaign when he played in 17 games.

Hargrave appeared in only three games for the Niners in 2024 because of a triceps injury. If healthy, Hargrave should be able to find a way to significantly impact Minnesota's defense, which generated 49 sacks in 2024. A third-round pick (89th overall) by the Steelers in the 2016 NFL draft, Hargrave has four seasons of at least 6.5 sacks, including his 2022 campaign with the Philadelphia Eagles in which he posted a career-high 11.0 quarterback takedowns.