Kwesi Adofo-Mensah knows that his infamous phrase “competitive rebuild” has become synonymous with his name. It’s a frustrating saying because it’s identifiable but hard to define. Everyone knows what tanking looks like. Ownership and management strip the talent from the team, load up on assets, and try to land a franchise quarterback while building a competitive roster around him as immediately as possible.
Going all-in is also easy to evaluate. Does the team have enough talent to compete? How large is their window? And ultimately, how close did they get to winning it all? But a competitive rebuild is somewhere in between. Adofo-Mensah has explained multiple times that his goal with the competitive rebuild is to create salary cap flexibility for the long haul while simultaneously trying to win.
“I feel like I’m going to be a meme somewhere when I use the term ‘competitive rebuilds,’” said Adofo-Mensah. “But I think at the end of the day, you want to identify where you need to be and where you’re at. And how do you fill that gap? And how do you fill that gap in a way that allows you to compete today and give yourself odds of getting to that ultimate space? So, typically, flexibility helps you in all those matters, right? Unless you’re certain.”
Evaluating a competitive rebuild means exploring and understanding the grey areas between tanking and all-in. Last year, the Vikings went 13-4, but they went 11-1 in one-score games and lost to the underdog New York Giants in the playoffs. Was that a success? Depends on if you wanted them to compete or tank. Everyone left feeling unsatisfied because they did neither. They cut bait with multiple expensive veterans in the offseason and lost three-straight one-score games to start the year.
At 4-4, it would be easy to conclude that the Vikings ended up in the mushy middle this season. But their path there has been even more confusing. Minnesota lost to the underdog Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home to start the season. Then they hung with the Philadelphia Eagles and lost to the poorly coached, underperforming Los Angeles Chargers. Most 0-3 teams miss the playoffs, but the Vikings went 4-1 in their next five games, including three consecutive wins without Justin Jefferson.
Then Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles on a non-contact injury and is out for the year.
“Ultimately, we all know you can’t predict injuries,” said Adofo-Mensah. “We do know there are markers and different things like that. I will say, Kirk’s process – and I know what his age is, but his process makes him younger.”
Adofo-Mensah is referring to Cousins’ recovery process, which fans saw in Netflix’s Quarterback documentary. “I kind of compare it to somebody like LeBron [James], who knows that his body and his mind are the things that make him super valuable,” Adofo-Mensah continued. “So he puts a lot of time into them. I don’t think he’s a normal 35-year-old person in that regard.”
It’s not lost on Adofo-Mensah that his job is to anticipate what will happen and have a contingency plan. He maps out different circumstances and tries to have a plan for any result. But things happen he cannot anticipate or control.
“I thought we were a better team than a 1-4 team,” said Adofo-Mensah. “I didn’t expect us to turn the ball over the way we did. I don’t think anybody on this team did. So, to see it reverse itself and play itself out, for us to be 4-4 sitting where we are now, is really encouraging because that’s, quite frankly, the team we thought we would be.”
Don’t expect the Vikings to tank with Cousins out. They traded for Cam Akers and Dalton Risner when they were 0-3, and they went and got Joshua Dobbs from the Arizona Cardinals. Fifth-round rookie Jaren Hall will start in Atlanta, but Dobbs will probably be under center for the rest of the season. Adofo-Mensah said that as soon as Minnesota hired Kevin O’Connell, the coach and GM agreed to play to win in every season they were together. “We said we were always going to play meaningful games in Minnesota,” said Adofo-Mensah. “And to play meaningful games, you need really good players to do that.”
Jefferson’s return is uncertain, but he’ll ultimately drive winning for Minnesota. Jefferson and the Vikings failed to reach an agreement in the offseason. However, Adofo-Mensah indicated that they’re still making progress toward a resolution. “There’s a reason they don’t normally get done two years early. I’ll kind of leave it at that,” said Adofo-Mensah. “You can look at salary caps and contracts and new money and all that stuff. There’s just reasons why it’s harder to do in those periods of time. But the dialogue was always super positive. We think he’s the best receiver in the league, and we want him to be a Viking for a long time.”
Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell want to play meaningful games throughout the season. Adofo-Mensah believes that Cousins is younger than his age indicates and that Jefferson is the best receiver in the league. He traded for Akers, Risner, and Dobbs. He said he’s constantly trying to fill the gap between where the team is and what they need to do to win a championship. Adofo-Mensah didn’t explicitly say it but read between the lines, and you’ll get an answer. He will go for it this season and try to re-sign Cousins and Jefferson in the offseason, no matter how it ends. Such is a competitive rebuild.
