The Minnesota Vikings have themselves a good general manager in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. They don’t have a ton to show for it yet and that impacts how he is viewed throughout the league.
The Vikings do have a 13-win season under their belt with Adofo-Mensah leading the charge, but a 7-10 season with an uncertain future at quarterback has him lower in Pat Daugherty of NBC Sports’ rankings at 17th.
There’s never a dull moment in the Vikings’ front office. Like Rick Spielman before him, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah seems to get chaos, whether he courts it or not. First, there was the negative point differential 13-4 playoff campaign. Next, there was the four-quarterback fiasco season that still came shockingly close to producing a postseason berth. That’s just how things go in Minnesota, though the similarities to Spielman stop there. Whereas Spielman was famous for hoarding draft picks — he made 26 selections his final two years on the job — Adofo-Mensah has been prone to using them in trade-ups. He has made a modest 13 picks across his past two springs in charge. One of them was on J.J. McCarthy after not one but two moves up. That was Adofo-Mensah putting his stamp on the game’s signature position. Adofo-Mensah went on a free agent spring shopping spree — Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Blake Cashman, Aaron Jones, etc. — but it is his unorthodox moves to acquire an unorthodox franchise player that will make-or-break his Vikings tenure.
Whenever we see someone talk about Adofo-Mensah’s moves, they always focus on the process. It’s always “Adofo-Mensah hasn’t made enough picks” or “he gave up too much in his trades.” Rarely do you see the discussion focused on how good the players are.
The picks of J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner will be a major factor in how Adofo-Mensah will be viewed moving forward. Is 17 fair for right now?
