To Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, drafting a quarterback is ultimately about love.
“Since we got here, Kevin [O’Connnell has] really been adamant about, when you select a quarterback, it’s a marriage,” he said in April 2024 before the Minnesota Vikings selected J.J. McCarthy. “It’s that serious, and that level of commitment and work that should go into it.”
A reporter asked if Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell could fall in love with multiple quarterbacks.
“I believe [so],” Adofo-Mensah said before pausing. “I agree, and I hope my wife doesn’t take that to mean anything.”
J.J. McCarthy has been the most consequential pick of Adofo-Mensah’s tenure. Adofo-Mensah traded up one spot from 10 to 11 last year, choosing Minnesota’s quarterback of the future after letting Kirk Cousins walk. Still, it’s hard to evaluate that pick because McCarthy tore his meniscus in the preseason and spent the entire season injured.
It’s a similar situation with Dallas Turner, who they traded up from 23 to 17 to select. Turner, 22, was one of the younger players on Minnesota’s defense last year and spent most of it in a rotational role. Khyree Jackson tragically passed before the season, and Will Reichard was inconsistent, but he could become a reliable kicker. Almost every other player they drafted didn’t play much last season.
Minnesota didn’t get much from his first draft, and Jordan Addison became the only star from the 2023 class. Still, the Vikings won 14 games last year with Sam Darnold, and the Associated Press named O’Connell Coach of the Year. Minnesota extended O’Connell in the offseason, but Adofo-Mensah remains on his expiring deal.
On a February podcast, NFL insider Benjamin Allbright said Vikings ownership wanted to evaluate another one of Adofo-Mensah’s drafts. “From what I understood, they need to see another draft class…and get a better gauge and better pulse from your side of the house,” he said on the Vikings Happy Hour podcast. “[Because] we know what it is from the coach’s side of the house, and we like that.”
Allbright is a reporter for the Denver Broncos’ flagship radio station, so he’s not as plugged in league-wide as Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport. Still, his logic makes sense. What else could be holding up Adofo-Mensah’s extension?
The Vikings are 34-17 since they hired him. Adofo-Mensah hired O’Connell, who’s built a winning culture in Minnesota. Adofo-Mensah traded for Cam Akers and Dalton Risner, who stepped up when they needed a backup running back and guard. He nailed free agency last year and appears to have done so again this season.
However, Minnesota’s drafting seems to be the missing puzzle piece.
Still, there are caveats for each draft class. After the Vikings traded Ed Ingram to the Houston Texans, Minnesota’s top three picks from 2022 are no longer with the team. The Vikings traded Andrew Booth to the Dallas Cowboys and waived Lewis Cine in August last year. However, the Vikings drafted Cine, Booth, and Brian Asamoah to fit Ed Donatell’s defense, and they fired Donatell after one season.
After waiving Cine last year, Adofo-Mensah admitted he was trying to do too much at once, comparing it to Minnesota’s historic 33-point comeback over the Indianapolis Colts.
“I think at times I might have been guilty of trying to maybe have a 33-point play all at once,” Adofo-Mensah said. “And I think once I identified that, I kind of … you’ve seen since then [the Vikings draft process] has been really foundationally just taking good steps, building to a certain critical point where I think we can compete over the long term.”
However, it’s challenging to evaluate the 2023 class because Mekhi Blackmon suffered an ACL tear at Minnesota’s first practice at training camp last year. Blackmon made three starts as a rookie, and he likely would have played a significant role in the secondary last season because the Vikings entered the season thin at corner last year.
Addison has become a star, but the rest of that draft class didn’t make an impact in Minnesota. Jaquelin Roy is with the New England Patriots, and the Seattle Seahawks picked up Jaren Hall. Seventh-rounder DeWayne McBride never played in an NFL game.
The Vikings will likely re-sign Adofo-Mensah after the draft. Like with O’Connell, multiple teams would try to pick him up if Minnesota let him walk. It’s also fair for ownership to evaluate his draft after mixed results with the first three.
However, it will be difficult to know if he succeeded for a while. The Vikings enter the draft with four picks because they traded up for McCarthy and Turner. Even if Adofo-Mensah trades down, he doesn’t have much draft capital with which to work. Because of player development timelines, it also takes two or three years for anyone to know how a draft class turns out.
After the Vikings took McCarthy last year, a reporter asked Adofo-Mensah if he was the guy they were targeting all along.
“You know, I think that question’s tough,” Adofo-Mensah responded. “What I can tell you is he was somebody whose skillset we were really excited about. We know we can build around and win with [him]. And, you know, again, he’s just scratching [the surface]. He’s somebody you’re talking about, from a talent standpoint, is as talented as anybody in the draft.”
The problem with McCarthy is that, through no fault of his own, we still don’t know how good he is in the NFL. Still, without knowing whether McCarthy is a franchise quarterback, it’s hard to evaluate Adofo-Mensah’s drafting acumen.
