Vikings GM Reiterates Familiar Buzzword When Pressed on Minnesota’s QB Plan
Pinning down Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah with a firm answer can be tricky. He tends to be a bit evasive with his firm plans.
What he offers instead of ironclad certainty is a consistent focus on his commitment to “options.” Indeed, Adofo-Mensah is a decision maker who doesn’t like being backed into a corner. Rather, he’s someone who likes giving himself — and, perhaps, more importantly — the team he leads the possibility to pivot. Being able to have these options at quarterback remains a top priority.
The Vikings GM and The Options at QB
J.J. McCarthy and Brett Rypien are under contract for 2025. Otherwise, the QB room is uncertain.
Players within Minnesota’s orbit consist of Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens, and Daniel Jones. The final game of Minnesota’s year — the postseason contest against the LA Rams — had those three passers as the QB1, QB2, and QB3. Seeing any of them return or depart won’t be surprising.
Darnold, in particular, is fascinating. He finished his season with a 14-3 record before going 0-1 in the playoffs. The regular season involved completing 66.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdown passes, and 12 interceptions. The end result is a trip to the Pro Bowl and a contract that’s going to be far larger than the single-season, $10 million deal he signed in 2024.
Is he coming back to Minnesota? The GM didn’t offer a firm yes or no.
Adofo-Mensah acknowledges that quarterback is “the most important position in our sport.” He insists that Darnold played “incredible football” but wants to take a total view on things that takes all of the evidence into account.
Toward the end of his answer, Adofo-Mensah offers this thought: “I think we’ve got a lot of good options, and at the most important position in the sport, I think that’s a great thing.” He was then asked about the dynamic between Darnold and McCarthy, leading to Adofo-Mensah doubling down: “When you think about that decision, again I talked about the most important position in the sport, you want to give yourselves options. I think the draft is uncertain, free agency, all of this is uncertain.”
How do you overcome uncertainty? Or, at least, prepare for uncertainty? Leave several options on the table. That’s what they did coming into 2024.
Daniel Jones came up not too long afterwards. Again, the buzzword made an appearance.
“That was one of the good parts about that move,” Adofo-Mensah explained, “was just trying to see, just give ourselves options depending on what potentially could happen this offseason.” Getting Jones up close allowed the coaches and executives to learn about “how he is in meetings, the types of questions he asks, the dynamics in the room, different things like that.”
“I think he’s a potential option for us going forward,” Adofo-Mensah says. Jones is, in other words, someone to consider for the QB room in 2025. “Again, most important position in the sport, we’re excited to have potential options that we think can come here and give us a certain required level of play that will help us compete in games.”
Forget the silly trade rumors. McCarthy isn’t going anywhere. The soon-to-be sophomore is in the mix to start in 2025. Meanwhile, Rypien is back in the building as an option to be one of the main backups, likely in a QB3 capacity.
What remains to be seen is if Darnold, Mullens, and/or Jones get brought back. So, too, could the Vikings look to free agency, the draft, and/or undrafted free agency for another arm.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is going to gather evidence, develop a plan, and leave his team with options aplenty.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.
