The Minnesota Vikings are coming off a season in which they had a losing record, and have since replaced their top-15 starting quarterback with a young (possible) draft bust and a rookie. Not only that, but they let multiple EDGE rushers leave, including Danielle Hunter, and made a questionable amount of trades to get their two first round draft picks.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell will very likely look back at this offseason when reflecting on their careers, and it will largely be indicative of how their tenure with the Minnesota Vikings plays out. If the time spent in Minnesota brings back happy memories, then they’ll need this offseason to result in something close to a resounding success.
ESPN knocks Minnesota Vikings offseason
Needing to turn the page on both last season and the quarterback position, there was plenty of opportunity to scrutinize Minnesota’s decisions this offseason. ESPN’s Seth Walder went after the Vikings pretty good giving it a C-, and ranking it 3rd worst (30th) of 32 teams.
At first blush the team’s move to surrender a future second-round pick to move up from 42 to 23 seemed odd. What Minnesota gave up was worth more than what it got back — but the assumption was that it was part of a larger package with the No. 11 pick to trade up into the early part of the first round for a quarterback. When it became apparent that wasn’t the case, the move looked illogical.
Combining the decision to acquire a second first round pick, while also moving up to 17 in order to draft Dallas Turner, Walder wasn’t a fan of the value lost at all. While J.J. McCarthy didn’t force them to jump into the top three, Minnesota didn’t grab a quarterback from that tier either.
…later in the first round, the team traded a ton of value to move up from 23 to 17 for Turner. It was a very pricey trade in its own right, but if we consider the entire move from 42 to 17 and combine the two trades, it was an overwhelming price to pay.
Also knocked for signing Shaquill Griffin, noting that the Vikings will lose out on a compensatory pick because of it, doesn’t sit well with Walder. He called that decision an “egregious error.” Of course, this is up for debate.
What did the Minnesota Vikings get right?
A C- grade insinuates that the Minnesota Vikings weren’t far off from being simply average. With plenty of negatives thrown out already, Walder turned his focus to the signing of edge rusher Jonathan Greenard.
After noting Justin Jefferson’s contract as a positive too, Walder admitted to loving the Greenard signing too, “I also loved the signing of Greenard, who posted strong pass rush and run stop win rates last season, especially considering that he was cheaper than Danielle Hunter.”
Of course Greenard is coming in to replace Hunter, and the production he provides will be an immediate barometer as to how well that move worked out. With Hunter and Greenard simply swapping defensive lines, the pair will be linked throughout the duration of their new deals.
