The last Friday in January is not usually a huge news day in the NFL, but the Minnesota Vikings entered the fray with the most significant move of them all when they announced general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had been relieved of his duties.
While the timing of that move was odd, along with the idea that a new general manager won't be hired until after April's draft, questions about Adofo-Mensah's job security were hiding in plain sight. After head coach Kevin O'Connell got a contract extension last offseason, it was months before Adofo-Mensah got the same.
While some local reporters had hinted about all not being right behind the scenes with the Vikings during this season, the news of Adofo-Mensah's firing had national reporters piggybacking on it as if it was fresh insight they were revealing to the world.
How things went so awry for Adofo-Mensah as Vikings' general manager has all kinds of tentacles, from his inexperience in the pure football realm when he was hired, to a dismal draft record, to last offseason's plan at the most important position on the field going so badly. Some of the latter were out of his hands (Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones leaving), but a better plan behind J.J. McCarthy was necessary, and hindsight has confirmed it.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy has lost his strongest advocate with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah gone
In true Vikings fashion, with the "competitive rebuild" label Adofo-Mensah placed on what has actually existed for the better part of 30-plus years, they won just enough games during the 2023 season to take them out of contention for the three franchise quarterbacks we've seen emerge from the 2024 draft class (Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye).
Left to pick from the second tier of quarterback prospects in that loaded draft class, and with Michael Penix also gone, the Vikings traded up one spot to No. 10 for McCarthy. Bo Nix going two picks later to the Denver Broncos makes that move look even worse two seasons in.
If O'Connell did not want McCarthy, he would not have been tabbed as the Vikings' quarterback of the future. So the head coach cannot just wash his hands of the choice, even as he seemed to have played a role in making Adofo-Mensah the fall guy for all that went wrong.
That being said, Matthew Coller of Purple Insider has added to the notion that the coaching staff, led by O'Connell, knew a better backup plan was needed last offseason.
"There are rumors that some coaches, possibly O’Connell, tried to warn the front office that McCarthy might not be ready and that they needed a rock-solid backup plan if they weren’t going to keep Darnold."
Daniel Rotman, who seemed to be plugged in early on the well-known idea that the Vikings wanted to trade up for Maye in the 2024 draft, has now suggested there was internal disagreement about drafting McCarthy (duh). But more interestingly, Rotman added that McCarthy was nearly traded to the Las Vegas Raiders last offseason.
In any case, the picture that's being painted indicates Adofo-Mensah (up to a point, anyway) was the strongest advocate for McCarthy in the room at TCO Performance Center. So now, along with obvious questions about whether he'll be the Vikings' starting quarterback next season, the 23-year-old signal caller has likely moved closer to the offseason trade block.
And if O'Connell wants it, as the winner of the power struggle with Adofo-Mensah, an effort to completely move on from McCarthy is coming.