The Complex Puzzle Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is Now Navigating a Piece at a Time
Any discussion of compensatory selections and NFL free agency should begin with the work from Nick Korte of Over the Cap, an expert in the area.
Before getting to Mr. Korte, though, consider just an initial word.
GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is someone who can often be heard espousing the merits of gaining good value. He has proven to be adept at moving around an NFL budget and has recently proclaimed that Minnesota’s draft process has been improving. With compensatory picks, free agency and the draft get blended, meaning Adofo-Mensah is now moving through a complex puzzle.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah & The Comp Picks Puzzle
In essence, compensatory picks get handed out by the NFL to help compensate teams for losing top talent in free agency. So, for instance, Minnesota is going to land a late-3rd in the upcoming draft for seeing Kirk Cousins agree to a four-year, $180 million deal last offseason.
So, too, should the Vikings snag a 3rd for seeing Sam Darnold travel to Seattle.
In fact, Korte confirmed as much in a post on social media. He wrote, “After just one day of agreements to contracts, there are already 25 projected regular 2026 regular compensatory picks on the board. But there is much more to come that will change this.” At the very top of the visual is Minnesota with a projected 3rd under “Compensated Departure.” Oh, and the idea about things being subject to “change” ended up being prophetic, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Keep in mind that other Vikings have gone elsewhere. Camryn Bynum signed a large deal, Patrick Jones II got a medium one, and one wonders if Cam Robinson will be next.
Now, here’s the key: incoming talent can offset the picks that would have been generated from seeing guys like Bynum, Jones, and (probably) Robinson depart.
To that end, consider the Korte update about Jonathan Allen, someone who won’t cancel out a comp pick: “Jonathan Allen is a nice signing by the Vikings in general, and even better for him, since he was cut by the Commanders, he does not count against them in the compensatory formula, with high comp picks on the line.”
Korte has been tracking the NFL’s moves in his effort to make an accurate projection for which team is getting what. There’s thoughts about Jones maybe generating a 6th, Minnesota’s signing of Isaiah Rodgers maybe offsetting things, and Ryan Kelly’s deal costing a 5th in the formula.
Oh, and then there was the kerfuffle on Tuesday morning that temporarily took away Minnesota’s 3rd-Round pick.
Landing Will Fries for $88 million was large enough to wipe out that pick. Korte explained, “Signing Will Fries to a $17.6M APY contract will mean that he’ll always cancel out Cam Bynum as a 4th rounder in their 2026 compensatory pick ledger.” The graphic alongside the text also shows a scratched-off Darnold comp pick. Bad news … if only for a few minutes.
But then there was the Daniel Jones twist.
Korte explains that the deal is large enough for Minnesota to get the 3rd back again: “And that’s easily enough to get the Vikings’ 3rd round 2026 compensatory for Sam Darnold going to Seattle back on the board.”
So, things can (and do) shift around in the world of NFL compensatory picks. Rest assured that Adofo-Mensah and several others within the front office are keeping track of things.
If all of this sounds a bit complicated, it’s because it is.
Boil things down to basics. Adofo-Mensah still has money to spend and needs on his roster. The complexity rests in doing a cost/benefit analysis for external players who are brought aboard. Quite possibly, signing an incoming free agent could mean losing another draft pick in 2026. As a result, Adofo-Mensah needs to carefully determine whether signing new talent is worth the lost cap space alongside the potential loss of a draft selection.
Going into the 2025 NFL Draft, the Vikings have only four selections. Good chance the GM doesn’t want to see a repeat performance in the 2026 NFL Draft. A surefire way to offset the beefy deals for top veteran talent rests in nailing draft classes, picking up starting-level players and/or contributors who are operating on cost-controlled deals. Having picks aplenty can certainly help with that effort.
One other thing to keep in mind. After the 2025 NFL Draft finishes, the Vikings will be able to sign talent without seeing their comp pick allotment impacted. Quite possibly, the team’s GM will show some patience when it comes to adding a player or two at a needed position for this precise reason.
Take a look at the work from Nick Korte of Over the Cap if you’re looking for more insight on compensatory selections. Oh, and keep swinging by PurplePTSD for all of your Vikings content needs.
Editor’s Note: Information from 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.