What did we learn about the Minnesota Vikings and their potential plans for the offseason this year from the team’s general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Tuesday?
It’s the week of the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, and on Tuesday, we had the opportunity to hear from Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
In the middle of his second year with the Vikings, Adofo-Mensah has a number of difficulties to take care of this offseason when it comes to the team’s roster.
Minnesota basically ran it back last season with a similar roster to 2021’s, but with a different coaching staff. It resulted in 13 wins during the regular season, but then the Vikings were quickly bounced out of the playoffs in the Wild-Card round by the New York Giants.
Adofo-Mensah and the rest of Minnesota’s front office now has to decide whether their focus will be mostly on the future of the franchise or whether it will be centered around making another attempt to become a contender in 2023.
The Vikings general manager spoke for 15 minutes on Tuesday, and he certainly made some intriguing comments. So what are some of the biggest takeaways from Adofo-Mensah’s presser at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine?
Vikings open to adding a “different” quarterback
Figuring out what to do with Kirk Cousins is easily one of the biggest tasks of the 2023 offseason for the Vikings and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
On Tuesday, Adofo-Mensah spoke about Minnesota’s starting quarterback, and it didn’t sound like he was completely dismissive of beginning to explore other options at the position.
"“Kirk meets that threshold [of being a starter-level quarterback], so we know that. Okay, well now how do you build the rest of the team around him to make sure that you can win in that way? Different quarterbacks require different things around them, but we know that for sure, he meets that threshold. How long does he meet that threshold? Is there a chance to add somebody maybe with different skill sets? Those are all questions we’ve got to answer, so there’s not one right way, but I do know one thing, I know he is good enough.”"
All signs still point to Cousins remaining the Vikings’ starting quarterback for the 2023 season. Beyond that is currently anyone’s guess.
Adofo-Mensah knows his current starting signal-caller is capable of helping his team win. But he also knows he probably doesn’t have much time left until Minnesota has to turn to someone other than Cousins to be their starting quarterback.
Key defensive veterans left out of the conversation
Minnesota’s defense is full of veterans with bloated cap numbers for the 2023 season, so there’s definitely a strong chance that some fan favorites will be shown the door at some point in the next few weeks.
Vikings inside linebackers Eric Kendricks and Jordan Hicks were both starters for the team’s defense in 2022, but both could end up as cap casualties this year. This appeared to become more of a reality on Tuesday when Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was asked about Minnesota’s group of linebackers.
"“We have a lot of confidence in Brian Asamoah. Troy Dye is a very good player. William Kwenkeu showed some really good things on special teams. So we’re going to take a look at that like we do with every position, but we have decisions to make just like everybody else does there.”"
Not a single mention of Kendricks or Hicks from Adofo-Mensah when talking about the current linebackers on the Vikings’ roster.
Whether this was intentional or not is something we will have to wait to find out about. But Adofo-Mensah not including Kendricks or Hicks in his comment about the linebacker group doesn’t exactly seem like a good sign for the future of these two players in Minnesota.
Vikings not attached to Dalvin Cook for 2023
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah kept it pretty simple on Tuesday when he was asked about Dalvin Cook‘s future with the Vikings.
"“In the NFL, you have a lot of constraints with the salary cap and different things, so [we’re] just trying to figure out how we can operate within those things.”"
This was then followed by a similar question about the future of Dalvin Tomlinson in Minnesota, and Adofo-Mensah used a number of more favorable words to describe the defensive tackle while raving about how he is a “great player.”
It’s not hard for one to come away from these comments and think that if the Vikings had to pick between the two, they would rather bring back Tomlinson for the 2023 season instead of Cook.
However, the running back is the one who is actually still under contract for 2023, so if Minnesota wants to move on from him, they’ll have to figure out a way to release him, or convince another team to trade for him.
For the 2023 season, Cook is currently scheduled to have a cap hit of more than $14.1 million. A number that the Vikings would clearly like to be lower if he is going to return for another year.