Cousins dilemma just one of the issues Vikings face this offseason
EAGAN, Minn. — The only reason to launch a full roster rebuild, Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was saying last week, is if you don’t think you’re close to competing for a Super Bowl title.
His comment sparked an important follow-up: Do you think the Vikings are close?
“At different times this year, you would say that ‘Yeah, we’ve shown it,'” Adofo-Mensah said. “And, last year in fact. But I think you want to get to that place in your program that it is consistent year in and year out and you can overcome adversity. We are not there to that standard yet, no. But we have made the playoffs. We have been in playoff contention for a lot of this year through a lot of things, so I think we’re pointed in the right direction. It is going to take a big offseason for me to answer that question a little bit more and shorter next time.”
And with that, Adofo-Mensah set up the most important leverage point of his tenure with the team, one for which he’ll weigh how many resources to apply to the short term amid a list of long-term needs that have gone largely unfulfilled since he was hired in January 2022.
He and coach Kevin O’Connell have compiled a 20-14 record over the ensuing two seasons, with one playoff appearance. But two of their three best players, quarterback Kirk Cousins and pass-rusher Danielle Hunter, are pending free agents with a clear path to market after the Vikings negotiated away their right to use the franchise tag on either. The third, receiver Justin Jefferson, did not accept an offer to extend his contract last summer and would play in 2024 under his fifth-year option if no agreement can be reached.
Adofo-Mensah has drafted one impact player — receiver Jordan Addison — among 16 picks over two years, and his 2024 position at No. 11 probably isn’t high enough to select a top-tier successor to Cousins.
When you layer those circumstances on a unique set of expectations from the Wilf family ownership group, which in the words of president/owner Mark Wilf means the Vikings must “consistently contend” rather than go into a “full rebuild,” you start to get a sense for why Adofo-Mensah knows he needs a “big offseason.” And nowhere is his difficult path forward manifested more intensely than at quarterback.
Cousins will turn 36 this summer and is coming off the first major injury of his pro career, a torn right Achilles that ended his season after eight games. He has said repeatedly that he wants to finish his career in Minnesota, and both Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have said they hope to reach an agreement with him as well. But the breadcrumbs Cousins has left about the terms of that presumed return suggest he will seek multiple guaranteed years in order to re-sign before his deal voids on March 13.
Last week, in fact, Cousins relayed advice he received long ago about evaluating contract offers: “It’s not about the dollars, but it is about what the dollars represent.” Cousins declined to further explain but left the clear impression that he wants the Vikings’ offer to represent a similar desire for him to finish his career in Minnesota.
Adofo-Mensah said last week one of his primary goals after taking the Vikings job was to regain “financial flexibility,” and that approach led him to allow Cousins to enter 2023 in the final non-voidable year of his contract. If he wasn’t willing to guarantee Cousins multiple seasons in 2023, is there any reason to believe he has changed his mind about flexibility one year — and a significant injury — later?
So goes the argument for believing the Vikings will ultimately allow Cousins to enter the market, where he would be the top quarterback available. But if that happens, would the Vikings be able to “consistently contend” in 2024 with either a rookie starter or a replacement-level veteran?
