Kwesi Has Probably Tipped His Hand On Darnold

In training camp last year, if you had told someone that ESPN would be spending hours of airtime on Sam Darnold in the offseason, they would have looked at you like you were crazy. Darnold had seen ghosts. The New York Jets and Carolina Panthers had given up on him. He was a backup in San Francisco the year before the Minnesota Vikings signed him.

Minnesota picked Sam Darnold up on a one-year, $10 million deal. He carried a $5 million cap hit, less than Josh Oliver, Garrett Bradbury, and Harrison Phillips. Still, Darnold was the favorite to break camp as Minnesota’s starting quarterback. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had moved on from Kirk Cousins, flipped the cap, and emphasized camp competition and flexibility.

“It’s giving yourself the options, flexibility, but it’s also competition as well,” Adofo-Mensah said after the draft in April. “We’re here every year trying to get better.”

Minnesota had traded up to draft J.J. McCarthy, but he’d probably slot in behind Darnold and Nick Mullens. They had also moved up to take Dallas Turner but had signed Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.

The cornerback room? Look at this speculation from an April 27 Star Tribune article:

Think about how this all panned out.

Darnold won 14 games and threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He made his first Pro Bowl and finished third in Comeback Player of the Year. Spotrac projects him to earn a four-year, $160 million contract in free agency. However, the Vikings could franchise tag him for one year. Over the Cap projects the quarterback franchise tag to be $42.4 million.

ESPN has aired hours of experts debating whether the Vikings should retain Darnold or where he would end up if they don’t. However, before addressing Darnold’s future, let’s examine how things panned out in Minnesota’s defensive end and cornerback rooms.

The Vikings signed Greenard, Van Ginkel, and Blake Cashman after Cousins left in free agency. Minnesota signed Greenard to a four-year, $76 million contract to replace Danielle Hunter. Greenard immediately outplayed his paycheck. Van Ginkel played for Brian Flores in Miami and perfectly fits his system. Cashman became central to everything the defense did last year.

Arthur Blank Check wants to pay Cousins $100 million to play 14 games, go 7-7, and produce an 88.6 passer rating? No worries. Adofo-Mensah went out and found doers who get more done. Greenard and Van Ginkel made the Pro Bowl, allowing Turner to develop behind the scenes.

Flores’ group ultimately drove winning for the Vikings last year. They entered the season set at safety, with Harrison Smith and Camryn Bynum patrolling the backfield. However, cornerback was a different story. They entered the season with Byron Murphy and a lot of uncertainty.

Look at the names in that Star Tribune article from last April. A drunk driver killed Khyree Jackson and two of his friends on July 6, an unfathomable tragedy. On August 9, the Vikings traded Booth to Mike Zimmer’s Dallas Cowboys and waived Akayleb Evans in late November. The article didn’t mention Mekhi Blackmon, but he tore his ACL in their first training camp practice.

Still, Minnesota’s cornerbacks held their own because Stephon Gilmore signed in mid-August, and Murphy picked off any ball that came near him. Gilmore is 34, Murphy had back and knee issues in Arizona, and Griffin had bounced around the league. However, they did enough to allow Flores’ defense to remain one of the league’s best units last year.

Adofo-Mensah emphasizes flexibility because it allows him to mitigate uncertainty. NFL players face a 100% injury rate. Still, he never could have predicted that McCarthy would tear his meniscus after his first preseason game or that Blackmon would tear his ACL. However, he positioned the Vikings to adjust to adversity, and they won 14 games after Vegas predicted them to win 7.5.

Flexibility has been a theme since Adofo-Mensah took over in Minnesota.

“(Adofo-Mensah) would always push that we have to be humble in terms of we’re making an educated guess,” Berry told USA Today in that infamous “Full Rams” article. “These are all bets. We don’t really know. That quite honestly has allowed us to be a little more flexible on draft day because of that uncertainty.”

Adofo-Mensah famously said his only hesitation was about not tanking the quarterback position. A year later, he added void years to Cousins’ contract instead of signing him long-term. He also moved on from popular veterans Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, and Dalvin Cook, who were getting expensive.

His reasoning? Flexibility.

O’Connell may have accidentally revealed that the Vikings are moving on from Darnold during Super Bowl week. However, Adofo-Mensah’s management tendencies may have tipped his hands long before O’Connell arrived in the Big Easy. He’s always valued flexibility, and Minnesota will have a more malleable cap with McCarthy’s rookie contract and Daniel Jones on a bridge deal than franchise-tagging Darnold or signing him long-term.