GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Deserves His Draft Pick Credit
GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hasn’t been flawless across his four drafts. I’ve been among those to spill digital ink being critical of several decisions, both selections and trades.
But while criticism has been warranted, the team’s top executive deserves credit for sinking a 6th into K1 Will Reichard. The sophomore has been constructing a tremendous season that’s worthy of being given serious consideration to get named as an All Pro.
GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah & The Sizzling Will Reichard
Tally up the stats to get a sense for the season.
The 24-year-old specialist has gone 24/26 on his field goals, working out to an excellent 92.3% conversion rate when trying to toss a trio of points onto the board. He then has an impressive 27/27 stat for extra points. Even those who don’t have the math skills of Mr. Adofo-Mensah — such as myself — know that the 100% extra point conversion rate is good stuff.
Unsurprisingly, Reichard’s extra point percentage leaves him in a tie for first place in the NFL. Hard to improve on perfection, right?
But then there’s the field goal percentage. Being at 92.3% means coming in at a tie for sixth in the league. Plus, drilling a kick from 62 is ultra impressive, even with the modern NFL having plenty of kickers who can execute from distance.
And, of course, there’s the conspiracy that’s out there: one of the Reichard misses being due to a cable pushing the pigskin wide of the uprights. However one understands the wire, the truth remains: Mr. Reichard has been elite.
The young fella did very well at Alabama. Accordingly, there was plenty of hype about his ability to shine as a pro. One wonders, though, if evaluators underestimated how good he would become. Drafting a kicker who can put points on the board from 60-yards and in is worth a ton, especially since he has proven to be remarkably efficient.
Next up for Minnesota is a game in New York to seek to topple the Giants. Very few outside of New York and Minnesota will be interested in the game, but perhaps fans of young quarterbacks — and possibly a few fantasy football managers — will tune in. Some sizzling special teams from the Vikings will obviously make a major difference.
Going forward, Reichard is going to look to continue his excellence. Putting together some further perfect days in the coming weeks will involve the sophomore making a push for the All Pro team, further solidifying that Adofo-Mensah did very well with that 6th-Round selection.
