The Minnesota Vikings are Now Confronting 1 Burning Question
In a lot of ways, a general manager in the NFL is tasked with watching and learning. What does he see in his team while doing so?
At 4-4, the Minnesota Vikings have been been sending mixed messages to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, an executive who has pulled off trades aplenty (34, to be exact). Is there any merit in shipping out one of the Vikings’ eight selections for a player capable of helping right now? Or, perhaps, would the team even offload a player(s)?
The Minnesota Vikings & The NFL Trade Deadline
No doubt, Adofo-Mensah’s phone is putting in overtime.
Minnesota’s GM has previously noted that the league’s general managers have a strong relationship. By definition, the job has a limited amount of people who truly get it since it’s such an exclusive crew. The NFL’s top executives commonly talk and venture into ideas. These preexisting relationships get brought to the fore when the league is looking to do business.
Obviously, sitting at .500 at the season’s halfway point isn’t reason to throw a parade. It could, however, be reason to bring in rather than send out talent.
Winning in Week 9 is more important than just a single victory. For starters, the Vikings climbed up to 4-4 while being 2-0 in the NFC North. Both of the divisional games occurred on the road. Both of the games occurred with J.J. McCarthy being a critical part of the win.
Claiming quality wins — beating the 5-3 Bears and the 5-3 Lions — does inspire optimism, especially the Detroit outcome. Doing so suggests that a Vikings team that’s operating at a high level can go toe-to-toe with the conference’s best teams.
But with that being true, the stubborn reality is that the Vikings haven’t separated themselves as being among the conference’s best teams. Can they get there in 2025? If so, what’s needed to help propel the Minnesota Vikings within that push?
One thinks of beefing up the corner position, especially with Jeff Okudah being hurt. Could Denzel Ward be added as a versatile veteran who gets freed from a sinking ship of a team? Other options are out there, but the Cleveland angle with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah does jump off the page.
When asked about the trade deadline yesterday, Kevin O’Connell suggested that the discussion was “ongoing” for the Minnesota Vikings. In fact, he did so while pointing toward the need to balance a pair of twin concerns: “If we think [a trade is] smart, not only in the present but in the future, we’ll have that dialogue.”
This afternoon, the NFL will see the trade deadline arrive. In other words, the Minnesota Vikings are down to hours rather than days, weeks, or months to put together any desired trades.
Seeing him Adofo-Mensah stay on the sidelines while other teams do business would be odd. Every year since taking over in 2022, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had orchestrated at least a single swap. The possibility exists that Minnesota ventures into a mixed approach, one where players get sent out and brought in, thereby balancing the Vikings’ desire to simultaneously emphasize competing now and in the future.
Sitting at tenth in the NFC, the Vikings could use help at corner, center, edge rusher, and quarterback. Very possible, too, that the team’s front office would be open to help at other spots.
We’ll see if Mr. Adofo-Mensah sneaks a trade in ahead of the deadline at 3 p.m. CT. Doing so would function as a gust of win in the Vikings’ sails as the season gains new life from the strong play from J.J. McCarthy and greater roster health.
