Five extra points: Which young Vikings players are growing up, and which ones still need to?

The Vikings’ 16-3 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Jan. 4, belonged to 36-year-old safety Harrison Smith and 32-year-old fullback C.J. Ham as they played what appeared to be the final game of their careers. But this article is focused on the other end of the NFL’s circle of life: five players who will be under 25 when the 2026 regular season opens in eight months.

They include the Vikings’ last four first-round draft picks: Jordan Addison in 2023, Dallas Turner and J.J. McCarthy in 2024, and Donovan Jackson in 2025.

Kicker Will Reichard would have made the list, but he turns 25 on Jan. 9. But it’s going to be hard to keep him off my Associated Press All-Pro ballot after he finished the season with four more makes and a string of 36 straight kicks (field goals and PATs) without a miss. He went 33-for-35 on field goals, finishing third with a percentage of 94.3 while tying for the most from 50-plus (11).

We forget just how young Dallas Turner still is.

“I feel like the age thing, it has its pros and its cons in a way,” the 22-year-old edge rusher said after his second multi-sack game in six weeks helped the Vikings beat the visiting Packers on Jan. 4 to cap a five-game winning streak and a 9-8 season.

The con was being 21 when the Vikings drafted him 17th overall and eased him into his NFL career as a rotational backup to Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel. Meanwhile, fellow edge rusher Jared Verse, selected two spots later by the Los Angeles Rams, was an immediate starter and became NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Verse, however, is already 25. Turner turns 23 on Feb. 2.

Turner’s sacks were easy for a young man whose technique and body are catching up to his speed and instincts. The first came when Turner simply ran past Drake Dabney, an undrafted rookie tight end playing his second NFL game. The second sack came when Turner sped past left tackle Jordan Morgan, the 25th overall pick a year ago.

Both times, the crowd helped Turner get the jump he needed.

“Honestly, shoutout to the fans for showing up every single week,” Turner said. “Playing here at U.S. Bank Stadium is a big advantage getting off the ball.”

Turner heads into Year 3 with 11 sacks in 33 games, 10 of them starts. Verse has 12 sacks in 34 games, 33 of them starts. Turner has four forced fumbles, including one on Jan. 4. Verse has five.

“I feel blessed and fortunate to go out there and do what I do at the age I am,” Turner said. “Just building off what I do. Having the mentality, the constant conquest to go out and be the best version of myself.”

But can the Vikings trust him enough to pick up his fifth-year option in May and proceed toward giving him a hefty second contract?

With one catch for 8 yards against the Packers, Addison posted career lows in catches (42), yards (610) and touchdowns (three) after being suspended three games, benched for the first quarter of another game and posting a career-high seven drops.

“All that’s out of my hands,” Addison said. “That’s up to them whether they trust me. I’ll just be working until they let me know.”

Addison missed the first three games for violating the NFL’s substances of abuse policy. He pled no contest to a lesser charge to resolve a 2024 DUI citation.

“I learned a lot from that, just mentally, decision-making wise,” Addison insisted on Jan. 4. “I just remember that team meeting after I came back from my suspension. I was looking around at all the guys and thinking to myself: I don’t want to let my teammates down like that no more.”

Drops also were a recurring theme for Addison.

“The drops were all just focus more than anything else, not staying locked in during the game,” Addison said. “I’ll work on that and catch the ball ultimately.”

Rookie third-round draft pick Tai Felton is the Vikings’ Plan B should they lose WR3 Jalen Nailor to free agency this year or decide to pay Nailor and possibly move on from Addison after next year.

Coaches like Felton, and he turns only 23 on March 15. But can the guy who played mostly special teams play receiver after catching only three balls in 37 offensive snaps before extended action against the Packers in the fourth quarter?

Felton certainly had a golden opportunity to showcase himself in the red zone. But, with room to run in front of him, he dropped a slant pass at the Green Bay 11-yard line.

“Oh man, 100%, my body took off before my eyes,” Felton said. “The last time I scored was senior day in college. I felt the green in front of me and got too excited. I think I would have scored. Next time, man.”

It will be interesting to see what 2026 brings for this young man, especially if Nailor departs.

Jackson will be in the photo forever.

What photo? The one where Ham scored the sixth and likely final rushing touchdown of his career.

“We knew if we called it, we absolutely had to score on it,” Jackson said. “We couldn’t call for C.J.’s last touchdown and have it get stuffed. C.J. means too much to this program and to all of us to have that happen.”

“I heard the call, I said, ‘Oh man, I got to get movement on this one,’” Jackson said. “Didn’t matter how tired or hurting I was, we had to make sure we scored on that one. It was a great play, a great surge by everybody.”

Jackson hasn’t wowed Pro Football Focus this year. The site ranked him as the 69th-best guard.

Against the Packers, two of the Vikings’ first three drives ended when they couldn’t get a yard up the middle on third-and-1. The second time, Jackson whiffed on his guy, who made the tackle for loss.

Jackson also missed three games because of injuries.

But the overall eyeball test tells me he’s a solid first-round pick, a needed addition up front who will only get better.

Jackson also earned toughness cred this year. His best game was Week 3 against Cincinnati when he was playing with a wrist that needed surgery.

“Surprisingly, that was one of my better games,” Jackson said. “I guess there wasn’t a lot of thinking. It was more: ‘Hey, I’m going to have surgery here in five hours anyway. I might as well play as hard as I can.’”

The Vikings went 8-6 with him in the lineup.

“Personally, I would say I was good, not great this year,” Jackson said. “I have a lot I can improve on. But I belong. You can say: ‘He should belong. He’s a first-round draft pick.’ But you never really know if any guy belongs until they get up here and start hitting guys.”

I asked McCarthy who made the call to pull him after he walked to the sideline after completing a pass on the Vikings’ first offensive snap of the second half.

McCarthy turns 23 on Jan. 20. So he’s probably still too young to realize just how bad that decision was.

McCarthy then launched into the scenario that played out in his mind as he listened to two imaginary voices sitting on each shoulder.

One voice said: “Go in there. It will be fine.” The other voice said: “Hey, maybe this is a test. You’re being tested to make the right choice once again. I listened to the one that was on my right shoulder and went from there.”

Two weeks earlier, McCarthy left at halftime of the New York Giants game with swelling in his throwing hand. But not before his inability to grip the ball led to a strip sack and fumble return for a touchdown.

He missed the Detroit game the next week with a hairline fracture but came back for the Green Bay game and was doing a great job in his first step toward rewriting the narrative on himself heading into the offseason.

The play was both immensely foolish and perfect theater to make the narrative that this is a tough guy who came back and finished the season strong.

I asked McCarthy how he balanced what he felt was good for the team versus what is bad for his narrative.

“Narratives are something completely out of your control,” McCarthy said. “I can’t change it no matter what I do.”

Not true.

Yes, his hand was swelling again.

McCarthy staying in the game and finishing, even if he had to hand off and throw shuttle passes, was way more important than anything else.

“It’s one of the hardest choices I’ve had to make in my life so far,” McCarthy said. “I feel like it was the best thing for the team.”

It also further cements the difficult choice this team has at quarterback. It simply cannot go into another season with McCarthy as the anointed one with no competition.

Unlike last year, when Daniel Jones left for Indianapolis because it was clear that McCarthy was the unchallenged starter, the Vikings need to find a veteran backup to battle McCarthy in an open competition for the starting job.

Keep McCarthy. He’s too good to stop developing for the future. But, Vikings, hedge your bet better than you did this year or until McCarthy stops listening to the wrong imaginary voice coming from his shoulders.