One of the biggest reasons why the Minnesota Vikings ultimately decided to fire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their general manager last month had to do with his struggles to select impactful prospects in the NFL Draft during each year of his tenure with the franchise.
More evidence of his draft struggles was brought to light by CBS Sports' Josh Edwards on Wednesday, who ranked the 2025 draft classes from all 32 teams around the NFL.
Unsurprisingly, Minnesota's 2025 draft class did not rank high on this list, as they didn't show up until almost the very bottom at the No. 30 spot.
Edwards explained why he believes the Vikings had the third-worst rookie class in the league from the 2025 draft.
"Grade: D+
Year 1 hits: None
Minnesota's rookie class was essentially offensive guard Donovan Jackson and little more. TruMedia credited him with 2 sacks and 26 pressures allowed in 2025. Those numbers are a little misleading, but the organization has a lot of confidence in the young lineman.Â
Defensive tackle Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins did spell an active defense."
Kwesi Adofo-Mesnsah couldn't figure out the NFL Draft when he was with the Minnesota Vikings
Adofo-Mensah didn't move up in the ranks as a scout in the NFL before he was hired as the Vikings' general manager in 2022. So, his ability to identify talent, and specifically draft prospects, was always going to be lacking compared to some of the other general managers from around the league.
Due to Adofo-Mensah's lack of talent evaluation experience, he largely relied more on the combined opinions of the coaching staff and other members of the front office to help make Minnesota's draft selections during his tenure with the team. It clearly wasn't an effective method, since the majority of the Vikings' draft picks while he was the team's general manager didn't pan out.
To be fair to Minnesota's 2025 rookie class, the jury is still out. Donovan Jackson looks like a solid selection, as he started 14 games as a rookie last season, and it seems like he could be the team's starting left guard for quite a while moving forward.
Wide receiver Tai Felton, who the Vikings selected at the end of the third round in the 2025 NFL Draft, only caught three passes in his rookie campaign, but there's a good chance his production could experience an increase next season if Jalen Nailor departs in free agency this year.
Minnesota's fifth-round pick in 2025, defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, showed some flashes in his rookie year, and a full offseason with the team could lead to him becoming an important part of the Vikings' defensive line rotation in 2026.
Tight end Gavin Barthlowmew is the only other member of Minnesota's 2025 rookie class who is still with the team, and how he can impact the team next season is very unknown since he missed the entire 2025 campaign with an injury.
But even with the Vikings' 2025 rookie class still having plenty of potential, the team obviously felt it wasn't enough to keep Adofo-Mensah around for at least one more season.