With the Trade Deadline Looming, Difficult Decisions Await Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
The Minnesota Vikings should be riding high right now. They’ve worked all the way back to a 4-4 record after their 0-3 start and earned a hard-fought win at Lambeau Field.
Instead, the scene following their Week 8 victory saw a head coach and players alike fighting back emotions after Kirk Cousins was likely lost for the season due to an Achilles injury.
This whirlwind of mixed emotions around the team is now combined with the fact that this is a franchise with difficult decisions to make in the next 24 hours. The trade deadline looms, and the future of the Minnesota Vikings, both in 2023 and beyond, rides on the choices that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Kevin O’Connell, and the rest of the organization have to make. Here is a bird’s-eye view of just some of these decisions that await the Vikings franchise.
Is Jaren Hall the Guy?
When the Vikings lost Cousins on Sunday, they had to throw rookie QB Jaren Hall into the game. It was a tough situation for the fifth-round pick, and with Nick Mullens still on IR until at least Week 10, it seems that he would be in line to start this weekend against Atlanta.
Hall was a very intriguing prospect coming out of college with his combination of athleticism, poise in the pocket, and arm strength. However, he was always viewed as a project who likely needed a couple years of development before jumping into a starting role.
Now, though, that is not an option. Hall would have to step in halfway through his rookie season if the Vikings want to plan around him. Is he up for the challenge, and more importantly, do the Vikings believe he can do so? The Vikings don’t have much time to decide that.
Should the Vikings Search Elsewhere for a QB?
If the Vikings don’t see Hall as a player who is prepared to run the offense yet, that puts them in the predicament of finding a new QB whether it be via trade or on the free agency market.
It won’t be an easy task if they go this route. Firstly, the team would have to find a player that they feel would fit into the scheme, and then that player has to actually learn the scheme. Typically, quarterbacks have an entire offseason along with OTAs, training camp, and preseason to learn an offense and all the intricacies that go into it.
Whoever the Vikings would potentially target now, though, won’t have that luxury. If Minnesota goes this route, it is because they believe that this team is capable of still making a playoff run, meaning they will expect the new acquisition to learn this offense within the span of a couple weeks at most. Nothing about that will be simple.
The Balancing Act of a Competitive Rebuild
Adofo-Mensah has stressed the idea of a competitive rebuild since he got to Minnesota. The Vikings have been building for the future by acquiring young talent to develop while also maintaining enough veteran presence to win football games right now.
With the Vikings now sitting in the No. 7 seed and well within the race for the NFC North, it would be perfectly reasonable for the team to keep players like Danielle Hunter around to try and make a run at this thing even without Cousins.
However, it would also be reasonable for the franchise to finally decide that they want to go all-in on selling and rebuilding for the future. By keeping veterans, they run the risk of losing them for nothing in free agency. The Vikings aren’t a 6-2 or 7-1 team poised for a top seed in the conference right now, and it would be easy to have doubts now that the QB1 is out.
Regardless, the decisions that are made in the next 24 hours or so will go a long ways towards deciding the short-term and long-term future for this team.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.