The Minnesota Vikings have picked Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to be their new general manager. What are some tough decisions he’ll have to make right away?
There’s a ton of excitement around the Minnesota Vikings as they have just officially named Kwesi Adofo-Mensah their new general manager.
Adofo-Mensah has a unique background and while he has plenty of experience in a front office, he also brings an analytical approach. He’s also said to be a great person to be around, works great with others, and is very intelligent with a great sense of humor.
That approach will be a nice change of pace to what was described as a pretty cold climate in Minnesota that was controlled with fear. While it is all warm and fuzzies right now as we welcome K.A.M. to town, he can’t sit on his laurels too long.
The Vikings are an attractive landing spot with top-notch facilities and a roster that isn’t far from being competitive. However, there are a handful of very tough decisions that Adofo-Mensah will need to make to get this team back into contention.
What are some of those issues that he’ll be facing in his first week in charge?
Hiring a head coach
The first order of business for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is to find himself the right man to coach this team. While early opinions were that the Vikings should go with an offensive-minded coach to bring something different than Mike Zimmer, perhaps what is needed more is a true leader who the players want to play for.
There are three coaching candidates out there who have ties to Adofo-Mensah and they’ve all interviewed with the team already. They are Raheem Morris, Kevin O’Connell, and Demeco Ryans. It would make sense for Adofo-Mensah to go with someone he is familiar and comfortable with.
Hopefully, his choice and himself will work much better together than Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer did, especially toward the end of their tenure.
Of the candidates listed above O’Connell is that offensive-minded guy who comes from the Sean McVay tree. Ryans is an exciting young defensive mind who has game-planned perfectly to eliminate the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers in the playoffs. Morris is a former head coach who has experience on both sides of the ball and can be the leader the Vikings are looking for.
Adofo-Mensah has some great options and could bring in even more. Usually, teams want to get their new head coach in place before February, so expect K.A.M.’s first major decision to come sometime in the next week.
Kirk Cousins decision
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s toughest decision just may be what to do with Kirk Cousins. If the Vikings keep him next season, his cap hit is a whopping $45 million. That is damn near half the salary cap. If he is traded, it is reported the team that acquires him is on the hook for a $35 million cap hit, which is still a hefty price to pay and could lower his value.
If Adofo-Mensah wants instant success, he could choose to restructure Cousins and fill the holes on this roster through the draft and some bargains in free agency. With the Packers potentially losing both Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams, the Chicago Bears in transition, and the Detroit Lions being the Detroit Lions, the division will be ripe for the picking.
The dilemma will be if Minnesota can be good enough to do more than just make a playoff appearance and if it is better to just start building for the future right away. If K.A.M. leans that way, he’ll try to move Cousins.
Cousins is still a top-12 quarterback in the league and can definitely be the missing piece for a team that is otherwise ready to contend for a Super Bowl. The question will be what is that worth for the teams looking to deal.
The Vikings would obviously love a first-round pick, but with that $35 million price tag that could be too high. Maybe a Carson Wentz-like deal with a conditional second-round pick and a third would be more of the asking price.
Keep Cousins or trade, that’ll be the decision Adofo-Mensah has to make, and maybe he already has a plan in place that he’s shared with the Wilfs, and that is why he got the job.
Establishing his philosophy
While finding a head coach and deciding on Kirk Cousins’ future are the two most burning questions for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, and the first that’ll be addressed, he also needs to decide what his philosophy will be for building and shaping Minnesota’s roster into a perennial contender.
He could go the route most general managers do and try to find his young franchise quarterback and build around him. The downside of doing that is that this isn’t the greatest draft class for quarterbacks.
There are some decent options like Malik Willis and Kenny Pickett, and while they could both rise to first-round locks by draft day, there are polarizing opinions on both floating out there.
All it takes is for K.A.M. to fall in love with one of these guys, and then start building around him. The Vikings do have plenty of weapons on offense that’ll help a young quarterback find success, so that route is definitely in play.
The other philosophical approach Adofo-Mensah could deploy would be to build through the trenches. His background is with the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns. Both of those clubs have big offensive lines with high draft choices and strong running games. They also have stud defensive ends that can get after the passer and destroy the timing of offenses.
This seems like a more logical approach for Adofo-Mensah to try to emulate, especially with a sub-par quarterback class on the horizon.
Danielle Hunter dilemma
Kirk Cousins isn’t the only tough player decision that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will be facing right out of the gate. He also needs to decide what to do with Danielle Hunter.
As stated earlier, K.A.M comes from two franchises that build through the trenches and had elite pass rushers. Danielle Hunter is definitely that and could be the guy that Kwesi wants to build around. What complicates matters is his recent health and his big 2022 salary cap hit.
Hunter has played in just seven games in the last two seasons. He has had injuries to his neck and pectoral muscles and those aren’t easy to come back from. Hunter is still just 27-years-old, so he’s got plenty of good football left in him assuming he comes back healthy. But those injuries could dampen his value when it comes to a possible trade.
Hunter’s cap hit for 2022 is almost $26 million. That is a hefty price to pay for a guy who can’t stay on the field. Adofo-Mensah will have to weigh the pros and cons if he tries to restructure this deal once again.
Looking at his history, it would seem that K.A.M. would want to keep Hunter around, but his inability to stay healthy could be a big deciding factor.
Who to keep, who to cut
The Vikings have a lot of big contracts with aging veterans and they will have to do some fat trimming to get under the cap. A lot of these names who are candidates for release or restructuring are long-time and beloved members of Minnesota’s roster that fans would hate to see let go.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah doesn’t have the attachment to these players that the fans do and will have to look at each one from a business standpoint. He’ll factor in age, health, recent production, and cost and use those to determine who stays and who goes.
These won’t be easy choices to make and some of them could cost him some love from the fans, but it would be for the overall betterment of the Vikings moving forward.
Some of the names who could be on the chopping block are Adam Thielen with an almost $17 million cap hit, Eric Kendricks with a $13.5 million cap hit, Harrison Smith with a little over $13 million, and Michael Pierce at a hair over $10 million.
Minnesota can’t keep all those guys as is and that list above wasn’t even including Cousins who was talked about earlier. There is a lot of room that needs to be created, and Adofo-Mensah will have the tough job of potentially having to cut ties with some long-time Vikings and even some who could be in the franchise’s Ring of Honor someday.