Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is probably not lacking motivation heading into Thursday’s draft. Still, he could watch Alec Baldwin’s famous rant from Glengarry Glen Ross if he wants a little boost. Baldwin plays Blake, a successful salesman who comes from the big city to motivate four underperforming real-estate salesmen. The most successful salesman gets a Cadillac; the second prize is a set of steak knives.
“Third prize is you’re fired,” Blake declares, berating the four salesmen. Blake tells one salesman that he drives an $80,000 BMW while the other guy owns a Hyundai. “You see this watch?” he asks another. “That watch costs more than your car. I made $970,000 last year. How much do you make? You see, pal, that’s who I am.” But the most famous lines of his rant were acronym-inspired instructions. “A-B-C. A, always; B, be; C, closing. Always be closing!” – you’ve heard that one before – and “A-I-D-A. Attention, interest, decision, action.”
Hopefully, Adofo-Mensah treats his scouts better than Baldwin’s character treated the salesmen. But the Wolf of Chicago Ave. will probably be taking some instruction from Blake. In his first draft, Adofo-Mensah swung trades with the division-rival Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers to add more draft ammo. Jameson Williams scored his one touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings last year, and the league recently suspended him for six games for gambling. Watson dropped a sure touchdown against the Vikings in Week 1, but he finished the year with 611 yards and seven touchdowns in 14 games.
Adofo-Mensah turned the 12th pick that Detroit used to select Williams into Lewis Cine, Brian Asamoah, and the 34th-overall pick. He traded the 34th pick to Green Bay, who used it to take Watson; Adofo-Mensah got the pick he used on Ed Ingram and the 53rd pick. He flipped the 53rd pick to get Andrew Booth and a fourth-rounder. Finally, he used the fourth-round pick to scoop up Esezi Otomewo and Ty Chandler. That’s a little tough to track, but the short version is that Adofo-Mensah was always closing. And as long as he hits on a few of these guys, he can fill out a defense that sorely needs young talent.
It will take a few seasons to know what kind of talent the Vikings got in that draft, and Adofo-Mensah says he sees it as a two-year horizon. Cine got hurt in London. Booth dropped in the draft because of injury concerns and only played in six games. Ingram made 17 starts but experienced growing pains. Asamoah came on late and made everyone else look slow. Akayleb Evans had a promising rookie season, but he suffered three concussions. Regardless of how each of these players pans out, he must supplement them with this year’s draft class.
Trading Dalvin Cook or Za’Darius Smith is another way he can get more picks.
Adofo-Mensah only has five picks to work with in the 2023 draft. Unless he moves up to take Kirk Cousins’ replacement, he will likely move down to make more selections. But Adofo-Mensah also can use Cook and Smith to get additional draft capital – if he can close. In Glengarry Glen Ross, the salesmen complain about their leads. “The leads are weak,” one of them tells Blake. “The leads are weak?” Blake retorts, repeating the salesman. “You’re weak.”
It won’t be easy to offload an expensive running back and a defensive lineman who has already said goodbye. But Blake wouldn’t take that as an excuse. “You can’t play a man’s game,” he told the salesman who complained about the leads. “You can’t close them.” Adofo-Mensah could solve two problems simultaneously by offloading Cook and Smith. The Vikings are tight on cap space and need young, affordable talent. Smith has the third-highest cap hit on the team ($15.5 million); Cook has the fourth ($14.1 million). They have bigger hits than Danielle Hunter, Harrison Smith, and T.J. Hockenson – three core players. Cook and Za’Darius Smith are distressed assets, but they’re still assets.
I feel bad calling players assets. They’re people, not company stocks that Adofo-Mensah used to trade on Wall Street. But Adofo-Mensah likely sees them the same way, given his background. Smith’s cap number is reasonable, and the Vikings may have been more open to keeping him if he hadn’t said his goodbyes. However, retaining him may create a strange locker-room dynamic. And Cook’s 80-yard run in Buffalo and 64-yard screen against the Indianapolis Colts changed those games. But he became more of a home-run hitter than a consistent rushing threat last year. Cook is superfluous for the cap-strapped Vikings. However, he could be valuable to a team with a better cap situation.
Moving Smith and Cook won’t be easy. But the Vikings pay Adofo-Mensah a big salary because they expect him to do things other general managers wouldn’t be able to. He’s shown us that he’s always closing during the draft. However, to move two expensive players, Adofo-Mensah will have to pay attention to developing trends and team needs, drum up interest in his players, decide on a trade he likes, and send it into the league. If he can do so, he will have a productive draft. It’s as simple as ABC, right?
