5 things the new Vikings GM needs to do differently than Rick Spielman

Quality over quantity

Rick Spielman was known as “Slick Rick” on draft day for good reason. He was constantly moving around the draft board acquiring extra picks in the process. One thing that he often did especially on the second and third days of the draft, was to move down.

Some years it was like he was moving down just to see if he could keep on doing it. Back in 2019, he acquired an astounding number of choices and by the end of the draft they ended up having to draft a long snapper of all things because there just wasn’t any other position to address.

The problem with this method of taking quantity was that Spielman rarely hit on his abundance of late-round picks. His logic was that with more picks the odds of uncovering a hidden gem would go up. They didn’t.

Adofo-Mensah needs to flip the script here. It would be refreshing to see him prioritize quality over quantity. Many Vikings fans would rather see an extra fourth-round pick, instead of 5 choices in the seventh round. It’s time to package picks to move up and get players who can be impact starters.

Spielman did this earlier in his tenure when he got aggressive and moved up for players like Harrison Smith, and Teddy Bridgewater, but kind of got away from that in recent years.

Let’s hope Adofo-Mensah has smaller draft classes that are filled with more top-end talent, instead of a plethora of guys who are long shots to make the team or even end up on the practice squad.