Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s Initial Investments are Reaching Maturity in Minnesota
The GM is a numbers guy, so he’ll always attract plenty of scrutiny for the contracts he constructs.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took over as the Vikings GM in January of 2022 and was given a mandate: get the Vikings over the hump but do so without tanking. Adofo-Mensah settled on a competitive rebuild, an approach that threatens to leave the Vikings in no man’s land (as he acknowledges). Failing to embrace a more traditional rebuild may rob Minnesota of the young, elite talent that’s often burdened with building a title contender.
The young executive, though, believes there’s enough high-end talent already present — Justin Jefferson, Christian Darrisaw, etc. — to win games in the immediate as he seeks to graft players into the team who are capable of getting them to the top of Mount Lombardi.
His initial dalliances in free agency led to some notable signings. How have those deals aged? Did Kwesi Adofo-Mensah do a good job in his initial round of free-agent signings? Everyone could see that 2024 was going to be a consequential year — which is now less than a month away — and now we’re moving into a period when several of the initial additions are coming to a breaking point in their contract.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and The Initial Round of Free Agents
Jordan Hicks. Harrison Phillips. Za’Darius Smith. Chandon Sullivan. Chris Reed. Austin Schlottmann. Johnny Mundt. Jesse Davis.
These are some of the more prominent signings from the GM’s first foray into free agency with the Vikings (get a comprehensive list on PurplePTSD).
Hicks, the starting middle linebacker, stands out. He was brought in on a fairly modest deal, agreeing to a 2-year pact that would pay him $10 million. While he was just pretty good under Ed Donatell, Hicks has been excellent under Brian Flores. Making the financial end of things look even better is that the veteran agreed to trim his compensation during the offseason, shrinking the projected $6.5 million cap charge down to $5 million.
One also thinks of Horrible Harry as a success story. True, no one is mistaking him for Aaron Donald since the former Bill doesn’t offer a ton as a pass rusher. What he does offer, though, is some high-end run defense to partner with being a tremendous teammate and community member (he’s Minnesota’s nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award).
Unlike Hicks, Phillips won’t be a free agent, but his 3-year deal is reaching a climactic moment since he’ll have a cap charge nearing $9 million in 2024. A simple cut would liberate $6.5 million in cap space, so Minnesota has a decision to make. Seeing an extension wouldn’t be at all surprising since the player seems quite content in Minnesota and his play has been strong. He’ll turn 28 in January.
The Za’Darius Smith decision was good and bad. The edge rusher did excellently for most of 2022, providing a needed boost to a thoroughly bland and uninspiring defense. The issue, of course, is that he eventually forced his way out via trade. Nevertheless, luring him over to Minnesota was certainly a win, at least in terms of on-field play in 2022.
The low-risk signings of Austin Schlottmann, Johnny Mundt, and Chris Reed all look to be wise.
Chandon Sullivan and Jesse Davis represent obvious missteps. The corner was overmatched on a fairly consistent basis last season, so the slot corner spot was a weakness throughout the season. Davis didn’t even make it to the final roster, instead getting sent to Pittsburgh for late-round draft capital. The deal — a 1-year, $3 million agreement that left $1.55 million in dead money — was one Adofo-Mensah would like to have back.
Looking at the situation from 30,000 feet, so to speak, points toward more wins than losses. The players who were brought in aren’t ones who are snagging All Pro awards, but they’ve proven to be vital contributors. Given that he was brand new to Minnesota, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s restrained approach looks pretty good.
More recently, the GM did deals with Byron Murphy, Marcus Davenport, Josh Oliver, and then opted to retain internal talent like Garrett Bradbury, Alexander Mattison, and Andrew DePaola. Those partnerships are all playing out in real time, but the simple fact that the Vikings are sitting at 6-6 after the crazy amount of health troubles speaks to some of the shrewd additions that have been made.
Sitting on roughly $52 million in cap space for 2024, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is going to active in the upcoming offseason.
Plenty of his initial deals point toward someone who does a nice job of acquiring strong talent on sensible deals. The standard, though, will be raised as the GM seeks to acquire players who won’t just move Minnesota through a transition period but, rather, into a spot where competing for the Super Bowl becomes a real possibility.
Editor’s Note: Information from Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.