What Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Deserves
Truth be told, I don’t know if things are perfect between Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell. Toward the end, Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer weren’t the closest of pals, contributing to the team’s struggles.
Regardless, it’s hard to deny what’s directly in front of us: Adofo-Mensah has largely been a strong general manager for the Vikings. He’s a great communicator, balancing his intellectual sophistication with being down to earth. He has a strong vision, working diligently to rebuild the roster on the fly without fully stripping things down. Most recently, Adofo-Mensah has aggressively been fixing up team weaknesses — as he promised he would — which makes the next step for the Wilfs even clearer.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Deserves an Extension
Start off with his great downfall: the horrendous 2022 draft. Truly, it was a debacle wrapped inside of a catastrophe. Consider a quick recap of what has become of that ten-person draft class:
- CUT: Lewis Cine, Andrew Booth Jr., Akayleb Evans, Esezi Otomewo, Nick Muse
- TRADED: Vederian Lowe, Ed Ingram
- ROSTERED: Brian Asamoah, Ty Chandler, Jalen Nailor
So, there’s been five cuts, two trades, and three players still on the roster. Put differently, just 30% of the players remain moving into year four. Even worse, at least two are firmly on the roster bubble — Asamoah and Chandler. The crown jewel of the 2022 cluster of talent is a WR3 who has maxed out at 28 catches, 414 yards, and 6 touchdowns.
Has there ever been a ten-person draft class that hasn’t had a single member get to the end of the four-year rookie contract? That possibility exists, folks, since just three players remain. Has there ever been a ten-person draft class where not a single player got a second contract with the team that brought them in during the draft?
Those looking for even more purple pessimism could point toward the 2023 draft class, a group that has been cut in half with the decisions to move from Jaquelin Roy, Jaren Hall, and DeWayne McBride. Plus, there are concerns about the three who remain: Jordan Addison (driving-related legal issues), Mekhi Blackmon (injury), and Jay Ward (buried on the depth chart).
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, in short, is far from the perfect GM. The man has made his mistakes. Nevertheless, he deserves an extension, one that keeps him in Minnesota far beyond just 2025.
For starters, there’s the simple facts that are right in front of us: across a trio of seasons, Adofo-Mensah is 34-17 and won the NFC North in one of those seasons. The lone losing season — 2023 — is the one where Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles and Justin Jefferson was lost for seven full games. Even worse, the main backup passers — Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall — each had their own injury struggles. What team wouldn’t hit a few bumps in the road with so much injury turmoil?
And then one thinks of the extensions he has done. As a GM, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is at his best when he’s negotiating a deal. Justin Jefferson’s contract is aging well already and so, too, is Christian Darrisaw’s. T.J. Hockenson’s deal is rock-solid. Josh Metellus’ extension was a bargain from the outset and the Blake Brandel deal was savvy. So, too, has his creative solutions to keep Harrison Smith in town been positive overall.
The crowning achievement, perhaps, has been the 2024 free agent class. Yes, there was the talent added — Sam Darnold, Aaron Jones, Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Blake Cashman, etc. — but then the controversial decisions to say goodbye to franchise stalwarts such as Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter.
Since taking over, Adofo-Mensah has had the gumption to move on from Cousins, Hunter, Eric Kendricks, Adam Thielen, and Dalvin Cook (among others). Few could argue that the team isn’t better off for those difficult decisions (though, in fairness, Hunter is still an absolute stud).
More recently, he has gained huge applause for signing Ryan Kelly, Will Fries, Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen, Rondale Moore, and then trading for Jordan Mason. He has managed all of the arrivals and departures while skilfully playing the compensatory picks game.
Even more promising is that Minnesota has a young passer in the house who is believed to be the next face of the franchise: J.J. McCarthy. If the Michigan alumnus does what he’s supposed to do — become a strong NFL starter — then the Vikings will be in good shape for a long time.
It’s not for nothing, as well, that the team consistently ranks at the top in the NFLPA player report cards. Guys around the league want to become Vikings. That means something, folks.
Add it all together and it’s very clear what Kwesi Adofo-Mensah deserves: a renewed commitment from the Minnesota Vikings in the form of a long contract extension.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and 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 social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.