There had to be a funny moment in former Seattle Seahawks GM Nolan Teasley’s interview with the Minnesota Vikings when they asked him about roster building.
Teasley likely had an answer prepared when mentioning the quarterback. He knew the Vikings had chosen not to franchise tag Sam Darnold after Darnold had thrown for 35 touchdowns and 4,319 yards while leading Minnesota to 14 wins two years ago. Still, Teasley didn’t know how they’d respond to his answer.
The Wilfs included Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota’s GM search, and the affable coach likely offered a generous response. However, he’s the coach who vouched for J.J. McCarthy, who threw for 11 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and 1,632 yards in an injury-plagued season.
Meanwhile, the Wilfs sat across from a man who just won the Super Bowl, his second in 13 seasons with the Seahawks. Teasley had worked his way up from intern to assistant GM in Seattle. He was the lone candidate among Minnesota’s five finalists who had no previous connections to the Vikings or O’Connell.
Interim GM Rob Brzezinski has been with the Vikings since 1999. Buffalo Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray and Denver Broncos assistant GM Reed Burckhardt each spent more than a decade in Minnesota as scouts. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Rams assistant GM John McKay had worked with O’Connell when KOC was the Rams’ offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021.
Minnesota wasn’t reluctant to hire an outside general manager, even though Adofo-Mensah was the ultimate outsider when they hired him in 2021. Adofo-Mensah was a data analyst with a data background, while Teasley has a scouting background.
More pertinently, Teasley was part of a Seattle team that created a blueprint the Vikings can use to become a playoff team again. Teasley joined the Seahawks as an intern in 2013, which was Russell Wilson’s second season in Seattle.
Wilson had beaten out Matt Flynn for the starting job as a third-round pick the year before. Because he was on a rookie contract, the Seahawks could build out their Legion of Boom defense that led them to a Super Bowl win in 2013.
The Seahawks eventually signed Wilson to $87 million and $140 million contracts. With more limited cap space, Seattle’s defense deteriorated, and Wilson carried more of the responsibility of driving the winning.
However, after the 2021 season, Seattle made the controversial decision to trade Wilson to the Denver Broncos. Wilson had made the Pro Bowl in nine of the previous 10 years but was entering his age-34 season.
The Seahawks moved off Wilson at the right time, but Geno Smith limited them under center. However, they built up a championship-caliber defense again with Smith on a three-year, $75 million contract. Add in the Darnold upgrade, and, voila, they won the Super Bowl last year.
That window between Seattle trading Wilson and winning a championship is most instructive for Teasley. The Vikings moved on from Kirk Cousins after the 2023 season and thought they’d use Darnold as a bridge to McCarthy, who they took 10th overall in 2024.
In hindsight, they should have kept Darnold on the three-year, $100 million deal he agreed to with Seattle. However, there’s nothing they can do about that now.
Still, Brian Flores has masterminded some of the league’s best defenses since taking over as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator in 2022. Seattle’s defense gave up 285.6 yards per game last year, the sixth-fewest in the league. However, Minnesota gave up 282.6, the third-lowest average.
Minnesota also let Flores take over the draft this year to fill out the defense. Therefore, the Vikings have a championship-caliber defense next season. Now, they must figure out whether Kyler Murray or J.J. McCarthy is their starter next year, and whether either is a long-term solution.
Murray is on a league-minimum deal because the Arizona Cardinals are still paying out his previous contract. Meanwhile, McCarthy is in the third year of his rookie contract. The Vikings still have time to bolster the defense. They may also be able to get Murray to sign a Darnold-type contract if he looks like a future starter this year.
Teasley has been in this position before and helped build a contender in Seattle. He’s not a Vikings organizational soldier, and he doesn’t have ties to O’Connell or Flores. That’s probably a good thing, because right now, the Vikings need someone who’s been in their position before to help them get out of it.
