Is the Wilfs’ Approach To Kwesi’s Extension Cautious or Dangerous?
Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
When the news broke on January 21st that the Minnesota Vikings had agreed to an extension with Kevin O’Connell, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that extension talks with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah were underway as well. Given the fact that the Senior Bowl is a major offseason event where NFL executives get to mingle with highly influential player agents, I assumed that the Wilfs would quickly hammer out an extension with Kwesi ahead of the event. A new extension would have eliminated any outside distractions from Adofo-Mensah’s primary responsibilities as general manager.
The contract extension talks for GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are also underway. and it's likely that both will be around for years to come. https://t.co/Hh2CmnZ3Mr
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 21, 2025
The Senior Bowl came and went, and the WIlfs did not finalize a contract extension for the head of their front office. I’m sure not getting an extension done before an important bowl game was mildly annoying for Kwesi. Granted, the most important offseason event for front-office executives as it pertains to meeting with agents is the NFL Combine, which starts a month after the Senior Bowl. But now, we are less than a week away from the Combine, and Vikings’ ownership is seemingly in no rush to get this deal done.
Not only are Mark and Zygi Wilf taking their time, but according to NFL Insider Benjamin Allbright, the WIlfs seem hesitant to offer Adofo-Mensah an extension. On Vikings Happy Hour Allbright said: “From what I [understand], they [are] taking the [approach of], ‘Hey, we need to see another draft class here and kind of get a better gauge or a better pulse on what this thing is from your side of the house, because we know what it is from the coach side of the house, and we like that.'”
According to @AllbrightNFL, he believe’s an announcement for a Kwesi Adofo-Mensah extension will come after the NFL draft, he mentioned on Vikings Happy Hour (@NicholasMMiller, @MattAnderson_8).
“From what I understood, they need to see another draft class here, and get a better… pic.twitter.com/laThDO2daq
— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) February 19, 2025
This shouldn’t come as a surprise for anyone who follows the Wilfs. They did the same thing with Mike Zimmer. In July 2020, Chad Graff of The Athletic reported “there’s growing tension” between Zimmer and the Vikings regarding his lack of a new deal. “Zimmer has been irked by the fact that it’s now July and he remains without a new contract, according to multiple sources who requested anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive topic. He’s begun preparing for what seems like a growing possibility that he may coach this season in the final year of his contract.”
Just like Zimmer, Adofo-Mensah is entering the last year of his deal. I’m not worried about the possibility of the Wilfs not extending Kwesi, since Rapoport also noted in his report that it is likely that “both will be around for years to come.” I’m more concerned about ownership’s conservative process regarding his extension. Is the Wilfs’ approach regarding Kwesi’s extension overly cautious or downright dangerous?
On one hand, I understand why the Wilfs are proceeding with caution. Drafting is the most important aspect of being a general manager, and Kwesi’s draft success has been minimal, to say the least. Kwesi’s only pick that is unquestionably successful was Jordan Addison, who was considered a “safe bet” at the time by analysts like Chris Simms. Adofo-Mensah also drafted Mekhi Blackmon, who played well his rookie year in 2023 before suffering a season-ending injury prior to the 2024 season, so tough break there. There’s also Ivan Pace Jr., who became a quality starter after Kwesi signed him as an undrafted free agent.
But there are so many things that he’s been fantastic at. Kwesi also took over a team that had an aging defense that ranked 30th in 2021 and was stuck in cap hell with only $1,009,641 in cap space that offseason, and now has tons of cap space. He hired an unproven Kevin O’Connell over Jim Harbaugh, which ended up being a home-run hire, and ushered in a “competitive rebuild,” which seemed a lot more improbable to pull off than tearing everything down completely. Minnesota has gone 34-17 over three years, and Kwesi deserves a lot of credit for that.
Because of the Wilfs’ hesitancy to extend Zimmer, and how they fired him a year and a half after extending him, it wouldn’t surprise me if Kwesi is on thin ice with Vikings’ ownership because of his poor draft track record. If a power struggle does emerge between O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah, odds are that the Wilfs side with KOC, given his resume. Giving the coach more influence to veto certain decisions isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but at the same time, coaches are often too short-sighted to be effective general managers. Bill Belichick couldn’t even make it as a general manager.
I just wonder if the Wilfs’ cautious approach could lead to a contentious work environment in the future. By waiting to extend Adofo-Mensah, the Wilfs may be creating a skewed power dynamic where KOC can simply override any decision Kwesi makes, effectively creating a lame-duck general manager. This could create an inoperable rift between Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell and prevent further collaboration.
Perhaps if the Wilfs extend Adofo-Mensah sooner, they can establish more balanced ground rules on how the power structure between KOC and Kwesi works. The longer they wait, the more likely it seems that Kwesi will get fired the moment O’Connell doesn’t get the short-term results he wants. That’s a dangerous game. Say all you want about Kwesi’s drafting, but he’s been a GM with a clear long-term vision and strategy in mind. That’s not something the Vikings should cast off lightly.
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