The Vikings were the NFL’s oldest team in 2024. A youth movement won’t be easy.

This year’s NFL playoffs have affirmed some conventional wisdom.

The best quarterbacks take their teams the farthest. Running the ball, whether through a MVP-caliber running back such as the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley or a dual-threat passer such as the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, remains critical.

There’s another football axiom that rang true in this year’s playoffs, and also stood in stark contrast to how this year’s 14-win Vikings team operated.

You’ve heard it before, say it with me: It’s a young man’s game.

The Vikings were the NFL’s oldest team this year with a snap-weighted age of 28.3, according to an ESPN analysis that weighed the age of each player by how many snaps they played. That obviously made them the oldest team in this year’s playoffs. They had the oldest defense both in the regular season and in the 27-9 wild-card playoff loss to the Rams, starting an average and median age of 29 years old.

Some of their oldest players, such as 34-year-old cornerback Stephon Gilmore, were feeling exhaustion by the end of the year. Despite a strong regular season that saw them lead the NFL with 24 interceptions and rank fifth in points allowed, the Vikings defense allowed the Lions to rattle off three consecutive touchdown drives at the end of the Week 18 loss. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford then completed 10 straight passes and threw for 124 first-quarter yards to open the playoff loss. Obviously, the Vikings offense also provided little help by season’s end.

Getting younger won’t be easy for a Vikings franchise that currently has only three draft picks in April: a first-round choice and two fifth-round selections. The Vikings are projected to get a third-round compensatory pick for quarterback Kirk Cousins leaving in free agency.

Gilmore is one of the Vikings’ many free agents this year, and he’s one of two starting defensive backs considering retirement, including safety Harrison Smith. Gilmore, the former AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year, said he hasn’t considered walking away until now.

“It’s more this year,” Gilmore said Jan. 13 from the visitor’s locker room at State Farm Stadium. “Older, body feeling it a little bit more. Just wasn’t thinking about it during the season, but now looking back at how I feel, I’ll definitely be thinking about it.”

By contrast, the Eagles (eighth youngest) and Chiefs (14th) were among the younger teams this season by snap-weighted age, surrounding superstars Barkley and Mahomes with speed on both offense and defense.

Philadelphia’s defense is young and supremely talented. The Eagles’ defensive starting lineup averages 24 years, led by 23-year-old defensive tackle Jalen Carter, a top draft pick, and 28-year-old linebacker Zack Baun, a free-agent find last spring. And the second-oldest defense that made the playoffs after the Vikings, the Washington Commanders, looked their age as the Eagles offense racked up 55 points in the NFC Championship Game.

Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will once again need to find shorter-term fixes, similar to last year’s one-year deals for Gilmore and cornerback Shaq Griffin, while searching for long-term solutions.

The draft isn’t the only route. You can thread the needle in free agency by signing other standout players coming off their rookie contracts with other teams. Adofo-Mensah did this with defensive tackle Harrison Phillips in 2022, cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. in 2023 and edge rusher Jonathan Greenard last year.

That just costs more money and precious salary cap space.

The Vikings are projected to have roughly $58 million in salary cap space when free agency begins on March 12, according to OverTheCap.com, but that figure can’t be finalized until the 2025 salary cap is set.

Minnesota’s spending power also won’t come into clear view until they settle on a path with quarterback Sam Darnold, whether that’s letting him walk in free agency, franchise tagging him at a roughly projected $40 million for next year or signing him to a new deal.

Moving forward with second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick last year out of Michigan, is one way to jump-start a youth movement. Not just because McCarthy is only 22 years old, but letting Darnold walk would maintain much of the Vikings’ salary cap space.

If the Vikings make it to free agency with that $58 million, the seventh-highest projected space in the league, Adofo-Mensah can get aggressive for coveted free agents like the Vikings’ own Murphy, the 27-year-old cornerback who had a career-high six interceptions while starting every game.

They’ll have to make calculated decisions on others, like 30-year-old running back Aaron Jones. While Jones had a stellar year in Minnesota, he also wore down by season’s end as injuries and defenders caught up to him.

The Vikings have the dollars and the reputation, ranking top two in each of the NFLPA’s first two free agency report cards, to draw talent. Just not many draft picks.

“When you’ve played as long as I have,” safety Harrison Smith said after the Jan. 13 playoff loss, “you don’t feel great every day. But playing, especially this year in this defense, has been some of the most fun I’ve had.”