Picture, if you will:
Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah sit in TCO Performance Center on Friday morning. Their Minnesota Vikings had another sloppy performance, losing 30-20 to the Los Angeles Rams. O’Connell was disappointed, telling Adofo-Mensah about his friendship with Sean McVay and how his next vacation may not be fun because of it. Then he turned his attention to how they could improve this team.
Adofo-Mensah suggested that making an adjustment or two could help the Vikings return to the top of the conference, but that wasn’t good enough. O’Connell offered a blank stare in return before offering a blunt truth.
“You know what we have to do,” O’Connell said.
Both men turned to a glowing red button in the office. After a brief struggle, O’Connell took control and pressed it like he had just reached the summit of the Aggro Crag. Matthew Stafford and Dexter Lawrence burst through the walls wearing Vikings jerseys just as Mike Florio stood in the distance, hearing from a source that told a source through a source that the Vikings were interested in trading for both of them.
Located above the button were two words that could alter the franchise: “FULL RAMS.”
Going “Full Rams” was a philosophy Adofo-Mensah coined in his first months on the job. His 2022 interview with Jori Epstein has become his origin story in the same way that a spider bit Peter Parker or James Logan’s powers manifested to become Wolverine. While there were other nuggets in the interview, “Full Rams” stood out as a way that Adofo-Mensah did not want to build his team.
The Rams had just won the Super Bowl partly thanks to aggressive trades. They played up to the salary cap and traded every pick in sight, turning their war room into the beach house Gordon Bombay received for signing with Hendrix Sports in D2: The Mighty Ducks.
The philosophy worked; the Rams won the Super Bowl. But it came at a cost. The salary cap bill came due, and the draft picks restricted the amount of inexpensive talent the Rams could use to fill those holes.
LA’s strategy is the antithesis of Adofo-Mensah’s desire to have flexibility in all decisions, which triggered the quote that sticks in the minds of many Vikings fans.
“That’s ultimately why when you’re team building, you never want to go full Rams,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Because you need to give yourself three chances at it, four years at it. I know that’s hard for fans to hear.”
Not going “Full Rams” led to the term “Competitive Rebuild,” which became part of the lexicon in all Minnesota households. However, Adofo-Mensah has shifted the tone over the past couple of years. His initial strategy felt like he was trying to “come up with a 33-point play.” However, his new approach to building the Vikings has been a series of microtransactions leading to a bigger goal.
It started by letting several franchise pillars, Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Eric Kendricks, to walk. It continued when Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter left last season. Some departures may have been painful to some but beneficial to the Vikings, who added Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Blake Cashman in free agency.
Add a pair of top corners in Shaq Griffin and Stephon Gilmore and a dynamic running back in Aaron Jones, and the Vikings have the makings of a team that is still 5-2 despite losing their last two games.
To many, this indicates that the Vikings are in a Super Bowl window. But that may not be the case. For starters, Minnesota came into the year with the fifth-oldest roster in the NFL. Sure, 35-year-old Harrison Smith and 34-year-old Gilmore may significantly elevate that number. Still, it signals that many impact players aren’t in the prime of their careers.
The Vikings also have several needs throughout the roster, including offensive guard, defensive tackle, and cornerback. Now they need a left tackle following Christian Darrisaw’s injury on Thursday night.
With just a first-round and two fifth-round selections in the 2025 draft, the Vikings may not have the capital to add an impact player who can help them win the Super Bowl this year. (The Vikings are projected to receive a third-round compensatory pick in the 2025 draft for the departure of Kirk Cousins, but they cannot trade that until the league awards comp picks this spring.) They also may be better suited looking for a player who has staying power than a mercenary veteran looking to push them to the Super Bowl.
Consider the T.J. Hockenson trade in 2022. After winning six of their first seven games, the Vikings pulled the trigger and sent a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for Hockenson and a 2024 fourth-round pick. The Vikings didn’t win the Super Bowl that year, but Hockenson was a long-term investment. They signed him to a four-year, $66 million contract extension before the 2023 season.
The move was a bold swing, but it wasn’t one of the franchise-crippling moves the Rams have made over the past couple of seasons. By making a similar deal for Lawrence or Jeffery Simmons, the Vikings can add a piece for when the championship window is open and keep the multiple “bites at the apple” Adofo-Mensah was talking about.
It hasn’t happened for the Rams. While Los Angeles made the playoffs last season, the Rams finished 5-12 after winning the Super Bowl and are 3-4 this year. That has left the Rams in a desperate situation heading into Thursday’s game against the Vikings. It also has made them a potential candidate to sell off pieces as they approach the trade deadline.
Looking back, the Rams only had one chance at a championship despite all of those moves, which is the type of situation that Adofo-Mensah would like to avoid.
Minnesota is likely to add a piece here and there. Still, it would be reckless to do something like the Rams did a couple of years ago and what the New York Jets are doing now — shelling out draft picks for big-name veterans in a season that probably won’t lead them to the Super Bowl.
At 5-2, the Vikings can still compete in a wide-open NFC and perhaps win a playoff game if things fall right – even if they don’t take a massive swing. In a year considered a rebuild, it’s a huge win and neglects the need to go “Full Rams” at the trade deadline.
