Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s Impending Extension Gives Vikings Stability In Midst Of A Challenging Offseason
Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mark and Zygi Wilf purchased the Minnesota Vikings in 2005 and have brought both stability and their considerable resources to the franchise. Both have done wonders. US Bank Stadium and TCO Performance Center are state-of-the-art venues, and the Wilfs’ commitment to sparing no expense has led to the team finishing No. 1 in 2023 and No. 2 in 2024 in the NFLPA’s annual report cards. The Players’ Association’s verdict? “The Minnesota Vikings are a shining example of what is possible when a concerted investment is made in both staffing and facilities.”
But the Wilfs don’t just spend money on the whistles-and-bells; they value stability on the field, as well. They put reports of other teams looking to poach Kevin O’Connell to rest with an extension last Tuesday. If O’Connell was displeased about not getting his contract last offseason, then crisis averted. The Vikings have their 34-17 coach back, and the charisma, energy, and offensive acumen that comes with him.
What we don’t have (yet) is an extension for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the architect of the Vikings, though it’s believed to be imminent. A stock market guru by trade, Adofo-Mensah has displayed the kind of growing pains that are expected from a first-time GM, especially one whose football background was more on the research and development side than with scouting.
Once Kwesi’s extension gets finalized, he’s going to have to put those early struggles behind him, as the task he has in front of him is his hardest yet: Turning a very good team into a true contender.
A major test of Kwesi’s growth will be the draft, which is the site of his biggest failure in January 2022. Out of the ten picks the Vikings made that year, none are current starters, and No. 3 wide receiver Jalen Nailor was the “standout” of the class. Only four of those 10 players remain on the active roster, and they are mostly buried on the depth chart.
With the jury still out on J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner — both of whom depleted their 2025 Draft capital with expensive trades — the only impact player in Kwesi’s first three drafts is Jordan Addison. And for a GM whose background is finding value in the stock market, you can argue Kwesi’s done a poor job in both trading up and down.
His first draft was the infamous Lewis Cine debacle. Kwesi traded back from Pick 12 to 32 to draft the Georgia safety, and according to the Rich Hill Value Chart, lost 50 points of value (the equivalent of a third-round pick) in the swap. And that’s before you get to Cine’s failings as a player. Meanwhile, trading up 25 spots in two separate trades to net Turner at Pick 17 last spring cost them the value of a mid-first-round pick on top of the one they used to draft the Alabama edge.
Maybe it’ll be worth it, but Kwesi put himself in a spot where he really, really had better be right. And he’d better make the right moves with the three picks he currently possesses for 2025.
If we combine the value lost by the Vikings' two trades (earlier deal with Texans to get to 23, then deal to move from 23 to 17), they burned the equivalent of an extra mid-first-round pick.
In other words: they basically spent *two* mid-firsts on Dallas Turner.
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) April 26, 2024
Luckily, Kwesi’s resume is not all doom and gloom. His brilliance in free agency last year wound up making a realistic case for winning Executive of the Year.
His decision to not resign Kirk Cousins proved to be his defining moment, allowing him to utilize the cap savings to re-sign impact players at premium positions, add depth, and bring in underrated defenders in Jonathan Greenard, Blake Cashman, and Andrew Van Ginkel. Then, of course, he and O’Connell identified Sam Darnold as a replacement for Cousins.
It was an offseason full of home runs. Great job, Kwesi. Now, do it again.
With those three draft picks as a starting point, the Vikings are going to rely heavily on their cap space and free agency to navigate a tricky offseason. 45.4% of their team snaps in 2024 are about to enter free agency, with 22 players hitting the market. Those aren’t just depth players either. A league-leading seven of PFF’s Top 75 Free Agents played for Minnesota last season.
Teams with most players on @PFF's top 75 free agents list:
1. MIN: 7
T-2. KC/PIT: 5
T-4. NYJ/PHI/SF/DAL: 4
T-8. CIN/LAC/DET/ATL: 3Broncos, Packers, and Titans have zero.https://t.co/uv35PIZjhs
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) January 21, 2025
The elephant in the room is whether the team should resign Darnold or not. If Kwesi sticks to the formula that worked out for him last year, the McCarthy Era should begin next season, with perhaps another cheap, but experienced backup such as Daniel Jones or Justin Fields. Darnold will demand too much to justify allocating a chunk of Minnesota’s salary cap in a market that’s high on QB-needy teams but starved for options. Darnold’s end-of-season play doesn’t make a compelling case to go for broke to bring him back, either.
Instead, it’s wiser to invest in shoring up other holes on the roster, including an overhaul of the interior offensive line, finding a dynamic running back, bolstering the defensive line with a pass-rushing defensive tackle, or investing heavily into the secondary. Kwesi must identify which internal options might be able to fill those holes — such as safety Theo Jackson — and which spots will need to be addressed with their limited draft resources and (much less limited) salary cap space. There’s also the trade market, which Kwesi has utilized to bring in players like T.J. Hockenson, Cam Robinson, Jalen Reagor, and Cam Akers, twice.
The Wilfs (likely) extending Adofo-Mensah means they’re banking on the power of stability and hedging against the ups and downs of their GM’s early tenure. It might feel premature, but then again, it’s hard to say that his vision wasn’t validated after the dominoes from letting Cousins go started falling. That, and his ability to sign top players to team-friendly extensions, finding success on the UDFA marketplace, and all those free agent home runs he hit last offseason make Kwesi a decent bet. But still, the lifeblood of any successful NFL organization is finding impact players in the draft, which means his tenure in Minnesota will ultimately be determined by whether he can improve on his biggest flaw.
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