Celebrating The 2-Year Anniversary of the Kwesi Hire by Debating the GM’s 2 Worst Decisions
K. Joudry
|
On January 26th, 2022, the Minnesota Vikings made the announcement on Twitter. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was going to make the leap from Cleveland to Minneapolis so that he could officially become the franchise’s next general manager. No doubt, the Kwesi hire has been of tremendous importance for the direction of the franchise.
There is much to admire in the young executive’s approach.
Genuinely, he’s a brilliant guy. He is willing to stick to his guns. The man has a vision and then the gumption to attempt to bring it to fruition. He’ll make the necessary decisions — even controversial ones — in pursuit of that vision. He consistently leaves himself with options as his contracts progress (read more) and some of his more recent picks look to be excellent. Nevertheless, Adofo-Mensah hasn’t been perfect, so let’s take a couple minutes to reflect on a pair of bad decisions on his two-year anniversary.
The Kwesi Hire and the GM’s 2 Worst Decisions
In hindsight, the decision to trade back from 12th overall to 32nd overall was a stunningly bad move from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
In fact, one need not rely on hindsight to see the truth of the above statement.
In real time, Minnesota’s friends and foes alike were panning the decision, critiquing the move since the Vikings forfeited twenty draft slots in the opening round without picking up a future 1st for their troubles. Even worse is that the 46th selection also went to Detroit. Take a look at the full details:
DETROIT RECEIVES:
- Pick #12: WR Jameson Williams
- Pick #46 EDGE Josh Paschal
MINNESOTA RECEIVES:
- Pick #32: S Lewis Cine
- Pick #34: Traded (to the Packers)
- Pick #66: LB Brian Asamoah
Thankfully, the Lions haven’t been getting otherwordly production out of their pair of picks, but Minnesota’s haul has been very underwhelming.
After two seasons, Cine has been on the field with the defense for a grand total of 10 snaps. Yes, there was the injury, but the safety’s health issue can only go so far in the excuse department. The 8 snaps he picked up during the most recent season occurred after the Vikings had already lost their Week 17 game and had decided to drain the bench.
Making matters even worse is that Kyle Hamilton — someone commonly mocked to Minnesota — plays the same position and was available. As a sophomore, he snagged a first-team All Pro nod. Even more wild is that Hamilton is still only 22 (Cine is 24) and he will have his shot at pushing the Ravens toward a Super Bowl trip on Sunday. The kid is a stud, but Minnesota instead decided to drop down the board for a questionable (at best) return and for players who have so far looked poor.
And while there’s some temptation to double-down on the 2022 NFL Draft and its trades — the Andrew Booth Jr. decision hasn’t been looking very good — we should pivot toward one of the GM’s signings.
When Marcus Davenport first agreed to sign with the Vikings, I praised the move with no little enthusiasm. The man is an excellent pass rusher and is a former 1st-round selection. True, the injury history was (and still is) shaky, but the upside was (and still is) obvious. Kwesi was investing a single season into someone with tremendous potential at a premium position. Even better is that the guy was only going to turn 27 in September.
Rather than overcome the injury-prone reputation, Davenport basically set things in stone.
He only got into game action on four different occasions, but a pair of those games were partial efforts. The pass rusher had 4 snaps in Week 2 and then 17 snaps in Week 6. Sandwiched between those games was a brilliant effort against the Panthers in Week 4 and then a productive day against the Chiefs in Week 5.
Week 6, though, was the last time he got onto the field for Minnesota. One has to assume there has been a ton of frustration about that signing, especially since the defender will be leaving behind a $6.8 million dead money charge in 2024. So much potential and yet so little time spent on the field.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hasn’t been perfect. One has to assume he would admit to that simple fact. And while there have been some excellent decisions — look for that piece a bit later today — the GM has had some notable misses in his pair of seasons at the helm of the Vikings’ ship.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
The Anatomy of a Kwesi Contract (Version 2.0)
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.