A few weeks after he was hired as the new general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah revealed that the team wasn't about to tear everything down and start from scratch with a new regime in charge. Instead, Adofo-Mensah declared that the Vikings were in the middle of what he described as a "competitive rebuild."
After Minnesota was able to win 13 games last season, this strategy seemed like it could end up working. Then, this past offseason, the Vikings made some tough decisions to part with a few longtime members of the franchise while also adding some fresh faces to the locker room.
Unlike last year, however, Minnesota hasn't been able to execute the competitive part of the "competitive rebuild," as they are off to an 0-3 start to begin a season for just the second time since 2013.
So, instead of the coaching staff spending sleepless nights attempting to figure out what has been going wrong during the last few weeks, or adding more players to the roster that have worn out their welcome elsewhere, Adofo-Mensah needs to change his strategy.
Vikings ownership likely isn't going to be on board (that's part of the problem), but the franchise really needs a full rebuild in order to construct that consistently competitive team that they desire to be.
During the entirety of the Wilf's ownership of the franchise, Minnesota has never really executed a legitimate full rebuild.
Instead, they've preferred their general managers to try and patch up the roster wherever there might be holes, and then the resources used for those end up being needed for new holes on the roster, but they're not available because they've already been used up.
This needs to stop. The Vikings need to trim their roster down to the bare bones as much as possible. Move on from Kirk Cousins, Danielle Hunter, Harrison Smith, Jordan Hicks, Harrison Phillips, and Alexander Mattison. See what players they can trade to acquire more assets in the NFL Draft. And when it comes to extending players like Justin Jefferson and Christian Darrisaw, try to work out a fair deal for both, and if negotiations don't go as planned, trade them too.
Yes, that's right, trade Justin Jefferson if that's what it comes down to. Of course, the Vikings need to do everything they possibly can to keep him first. But if giving Jefferson a large extension is something that is going to hurt Minnesota in the long run, then the team should look to move on from him, especially since he's a player that the Vikings could end up getting a significant return package for in a trade.
It probably sounds drastic to most, but Minnesota has literally tried every other method, and none of it has resulted in the franchise winning a Super Bowl ring. If this strategy fails as well, at least the Vikings can say they tried.
That's all fans are really asking for. Try something that the majority of Minnesota fans haven't seen before because everyone is tired of seeing the same graphic passed around that shows the Vikings with the highest all-time winning percentage without ever winning a Super Bowl.
It's pointless, just like the 2023 season is going to be for Minnesota, unless they, at the very least, take some steps to make some significant, but necessary, changes to their roster.