The Minnesota Vikings have a lot of work to do this offseason. Minnesota need to add players on both sides of the ball, especially after losing Cam Bynum to the Colts during NFL free agency. Thankfully, Minnesota will have some additional firepower in the 2025 NFL Draft to help fill these gaps.

The Vikings earned a third-round compensatory pick in the 2025 NFL Draft after losing Kirk Cousins in free agency last year, per Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team.

Minnesota gains the 97th overall pick, which is the best of all compensatory picks in this year's draft.

In a nutshell, compensatory picks are determined based on the value of free agents lost during the previous year's free agency cycle. If a team loses more valuable players than they sign in free agency, then they will receive a compensatory pick the next offseason.

NFL teams can also earn compensatory picks if they lose a minority coach or executive to a head coaching or general manager role with another team.

This year, three NFL teams will receive compensatory picks this way. The 49ers (DeMeco Ryans/Ran Carthon), Rams (Raheem Morris), and Lions (Aaron Glenn) will all receive third-round picks to compensate for the loss of their minority coaches and executives.

Gaining a compensatory pick is crucial for the Vikings this year in particular. The Vikings now have four total picks in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Minnesota traded away their second, third, and fourth-round picks during the 2024 NFL Draft when trading up for Dallas Turner. They also traded away their sixth- and seventh-round picks in 2023 in the Za'Darius Smith trade with Cleveland.

Vikings should start JJ McCarthy in 2025 after Sam Darnold departure

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The Vikings are positioned to finally start 2024 rookie JJ McCarthy during the 2025 NFL season.

Minnesota lost QB Sam Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million contract with Seattle during free agency. This move paved the way for McCarthy to take over as the Vikings' quarterback of the future.

The Vikings were surprised that they lost Darnold, even with McCarthy still in the building. Just a week before NFL free agency, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported that both the Vikings and Darnold had ‘mutual interest' in hammering out a contract extension.

However, the reporting out of Minnesota seemed to change after the Seahawks traded Geno Smith to the Raiders on Friday.

Just one day later, new reporting suggested that Darnold would not return to the Vikings.

Hopefully McCarthy will be healthy enough to take over Minnesota's starting job when training camp starts this summer.