NFL Execs Offer Some Vikings Opinions, Ranging from Deep Doubt to Praise for “More Upside”
Vikings opinions are plentiful.
Over on The Athletic, Mike Sando offered a piece that leans on insight from some anonymous league executives. The point of the article is to gauge how the NFC’s teams did during the 2024 NFL Draft. Maybe unsurprisingly, Minnesota gets some mixed reviews for the work they did.
Anonymous Executives Offer their Vikings Opinions
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah doesn’t make everyone happy. That’s part of the cost of doing business while pursuing a strong vision for how the Vikings franchise should be run.
But while fans can be quick to toss over criticism, it’s a bit more notable when people internal to the NFL have some doubts. Sando collects the opinions from these executives, noting that “the draft capital they burned” while trading up “was so massive that some execs questioned Minnesota’s process.”
Part of the issue is that some think the Vikings aren’t close to actually climbing Mount Lombardi. The thought from one executive: “the Vikings are not even close to contending. What they did, or even what the Bears did in giving up a (2025) fourth (for a fifth this year), I would not be doing that if I were those teams.”
Sando follows these thoughts with a recap of the trade cost surrounding the No. 23 spot:
The Vikings traded 2025 third- and fourth-round picks to Jacksonville to jump from 23 to 17 for edge rusher Dallas Turner. That was on top of the 2025 second-rounder they sent to Houston before the draft for No. 23, as a chip for possibly climbing for a quarterback, which wound up being unnecessary. Now, the Vikings hold only three picks in 2025, plus a likely third-round compensatory choice for losing Cousins.
Sando’s point about the lack of draft picks in 2025 is well taken. It’s a notable downside to Adofo-Mensah’s approach and something Minnesota will need to navigate. Josh Frey took on the challenge in a piece for PurplePTSD recently, noting that moving someone out (Nick Mullens, Lewis Cine) could result in another pick being added.
And then the possibility is there that Minnesota has a light draft but an aggressive free agency period given the upcoming financial abundance.
For whatever it’s worth, the piece on The Athletic wasn’t all negative. Some had good things to say about Minnesota’s draft.
Minnesota’s GM “had the capital to move up for a quarterback if he needed it, and then he read the room right to know he could get J.J. without mortgaging a future first-round pick.” Moreover, the Vikings were confronting last year’s pass rusher precedent: “On the second trade, to get Dallas Turner, they paid a lot, but because Houston gave up so much for Will Anderson last year, I could see Kwesi saying, ‘Well, if we feel Dallas Turner is a Will Anderson type, let’s go up and get him.'”
Still another offered praise since “[t]hey got younger, cheaper and healthier with more upside.”
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is results. Seeing J.J. McCarthy become a true QB1 while Dallas Turner morphs into the second coming of Danielle Hunter would make everyone forget about trade costs.
To that end, the Vikings have some important dates coming up for the next steps in their offseason.
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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.