Will Ragatz
Will Ragatz covers the Minnesota Vikings with a close eye on how coaching decisions, roster construction and individual player development intersect over the course of an NFL season. He combines day-to-day beat reporting with data, film notes and on-site observations to explain not just what happened around the team, but why it matters for the Vikings’ long-term trajectory.
Vikings beat coverage built around practice fields and game film
Ragatz reports for Sports Illustrated’s Vikings-focused vertical, providing continuous coverage of the team’s practices, games and transactions across the NFL calendar. His recent work ranges from breaking down specific moments from organized team activities and minicamp - such as clips of Kevin O’Connell, Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy from the first OTA that sparked debate about McCarthy’s mechanics - to tracking ongoing position battles and scheme tweaks on both sides of the ball.
He treats practices as reporting ground rather than backdrop, often using individual reps, drill rotations and coach–player interactions to frame questions about depth chart status and development plans.
During the season, his gamers and next-day pieces typically move quickly from the final score to the underlying factors that drove it, including protection issues, coverage breakdowns, red-zone play calling and situational management.
Offseason coverage follows the same structure, with close attention to how new signings, draft picks and staff changes show up in early on-field work. Across formats, he writes with the assumption that readers follow the team closely and want detail on personnel groupings, alignments and specific play concepts, not just high-level narrative.
Quarterbacks, coaching decisions and offensive identity
A through-line in Ragatz’s work is sustained focus on the Vikings’ quarterback situation and what it reveals about the organization’s offensive identity. He has written repeatedly on J.J.
McCarthy’s early progress, using practice clips and coach commentary to assess his footwork, processing and readiness relative to Sam Darnold’s veteran baseline. When mechanical quirks or timing issues surface on film, he uses them as entry points into broader questions about how the staff plans to develop McCarthy over the season, and how patient they are likely to be before considering a change.
He approaches coaching decisions the same way, treating Kevin O’Connell’s play calling, game management and practice structure as central storylines rather than background.
Recent pieces examine how the offense is adapting protections, route combinations and run concepts to new personnel, and how much flexibility exists to tailor packages around whichever quarterback is under center. This emphasis on the interplay between scheme and the passer distinguishes his coverage from more transactional or purely narrative team reporting.
Roster construction, cap realities and depth-chart churn
Ragatz spends substantial time on roster-building dynamics, connecting individual moves to the broader cap and personnel picture. His coverage of free agency and the draft tracks not only who the Vikings add or lose, but how those decisions rebalance investments between offense and defense, and what they signal about the timeline for contention. He regularly breaks down position groups - offensive line, secondary, defensive front, skill positions - with an eye to starter quality, depth, and special-teams roles, especially as cuts and injuries reshape the roster.
In training camp and preseason periods, his articles often center on specific players who are competing for roles or trying to revive their careers, using practice performance, preseason snaps and coach feedback as evidence. When he highlights fringe-roster players, he usually sets them in the context of contract status, draft capital and staff preferences, making clear what each player is up against to stick on the 53-man roster.
Explainers, analysis pieces and fan-facing context
Alongside straight beat reports, Ragatz produces analysis and explainer pieces aimed at helping invested fans understand key inflection points in the Vikings’ season. These include breakdowns of new signings and draft picks that focus on play style, fit in the scheme and realistic expectations for usage in year one.
When the team makes a notable strategic choice - from changing defensive coordinators to retooling the receiver room - he often follows with a piece that situates the move against recent NFL trends and the Vikings’ own track record.
His tone across formats is direct and accessible, rooted in evidence from practice observations, game film and statistics. He generally avoids columnist-style voice in favor of specific, grounded analysis: how often a player lined up in a certain spot, which coverages gave the offense trouble, or how a new acquisition’s past usage compares to the role the Vikings are asking him to play now.
The result is a body of work that is tightly focused on one franchise but deep in detail about how modern NFL teams try to solve problems week to week and year to year.
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