This is setting up to be a breakout campaign for Minnesota Vikings EDGE Dallas Turner.
The Vikings traded up to select Turner, sending the 23rd overall pick (Brian Thomas) in the 2024 draft along with what became the 88th (Keilan Robinson) and 126th (subesequently traded to the Browns; Dylan Sampson) to the Jacksonville Jaguars for the young pass rusher.
Coming off an 8.0-sack season–a career-high, no less–and entering his first full season as a starter, Turner drew the Vikings’ “X factor” label from ESPN’s Ben Solak.
Solak believes the “The lightbulb turned on for Turner last season,” as shown in his get-off.
Dallas Turner Called Vikings ‘X Factor’
“The Vikings had to create cap relief this offseason,” Solak wrote on September 4, noting Minnesota’s trade sending Jonathan Greenard to the Philadelphia Eagles among their moves, adding that their “plan was always to make some room at edge rusher after the 2024 first-round selection of Turner.”
“Turner had one quick pressure in the first 10 weeks of the 2025 season — a quick pressure is a pressure in under 2.5 seconds, as measured by Next Gen Stats. In the final eight weeks of the season, he had 10 such pressures.”
Solak noted that when Turner wins off the edge, he “forces” opposing QBs into stepping up, which “compromises pocket integrity.”
He also noted it positively impacts fellow linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel.
“The Vikings’ defense is in a huge state of transition as it fields multiple rookie defensive tackles and enters its first season without Harrison Smith since 2011 (probably, he still might come back for Year 15). Brian Flores’ top-flight unit might take a step back in overall efficiency, but it can still be an elite pressure and takeaways team if the pass rush and blitz plan remain sharp, and Turner is the fulcrum on which that game swings. If he continues winning fast game over game, the Vikings will remain disruptive.”
Dallas Turner Turned Heads During Training Camp
The most encouraging off-field development for the Vikings when it comes to Turner is how he is being discussed by the media for his production on it.
“Quarterback hoopla overshadowed Turner’s eye-popping camp,” The Athletic’s Alec Lewis wrote on August 30. “He torched Baltimore Ravens tackle Ronnie Stanley in joint practices to the point that teammates were raving about Turner’s performance.”
Compare that to the rhetoric from the same author and outlet at the same time in 2025.
“General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah needs him to hit. Badly,” Lewis wrote in August 2025 of the now-former Vikings executive, who has since landed on his feet with the Vikings rivals from the NFC West, the San Francisco 49ers. Turner has flashed in training camp, and the Vikings defense has even more personnel groupings to toy with. His season is going to be fascinating.”
The Vikings fired Adofo-Mensah this offseason amid their shift away from their other first-round pick in 2024, J.J. McCarthy, whom they also traded up to acquire.
Turner is a success story for the Vikings, and appears poised to bolster that standing.
Vikings Get Strong Words Over Former First-Round Draft Pick ‘X Factor’