The Kwesi Honeymoon Resumes after Vikings Latest FA Transaction

Until Tuesday, the Minnesota Vikings player-personnel offseason felt like former general manager Rick Spielman never left. But with one free-agent transaction, the Kwesi Adofo-Mensah honeymoon resumed.

And that was the acquisition of EDGE rusher Za’Darius Smith.

Before the Smith signing, Adofo-Mensah conducted these offseason measures:

• Extended quarterback Kirk Cousins
• Signed a DT, a position of which the Vikings were somewhat deep
• Avoided splashy moves in free agency’s first wave
• Restructured veteran contracts

And that’s straight out of Spielman’s purple playbook. Naturally, this type of reaction ensued from fans:

But when Adofo-Mensah inked Smith to pair with Danielle Hunter — who could’ve been reasonably traded because of a tall contractual asking price — faith was restored. Smith is the kind of move a general manager executes when a team is ready to win now. Until recently, onlookers of the Vikings weren’t sure if the team would rebuild or contend.

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”978754″ player=”26279″ title=”WATCH%20Where%20will%20Libertys%20Malik%20Willis%20land%20in%20the%202022%20NFL%20Draft” duration=”123″ description=”Former Liberty quarterback Malik Willis impressed onlookers during the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. He took that to a new level during the program’s pro day just recently.For the 6-foot Willis, this has been an opportunity for him to show teams that he’s capable of being a franchise guy heading into the 2022 NFL Draft. It’s seen as a relatively weak positional group, meaning there’s room for advancement when it comes to the small-school product.” uploaddate=”2022-03-23″ thumbnailurl=”undefined” contentUrl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/streaming/978666/978666.m3u8″ width=”16″ height=”9″]

Well, the re-upping with Cousins for an extra year — he’s slated to be the QB1 through the end of 2023 — the commitment to Hunter through 2023, and the landing of Smith for three years emphatically decide the team’s plans.

They want to win now.

Had Minnesota declared that mindset while merely signing “all the same guys” back for 2022, Adofo-Mensah’s judgment would’ve been considered suspect. Yet, the Smith addition changed the dialogue. Adofo-Mensah is “in it to win it,” improving with ex-Packer inserted into the defense and not settling for same-ol-same-ol status quo.

The eyebrow-raises by fans were so pronounced that speculation arose insinuating the Vikings ownership had suddenly become puppetmaster owners — forcing Adofo-Mensah to “do this” and “do that,” hamstringing his ability to generally manage. For some Vikings loyalists — especially the group not sold on Cousins’ ability to lead the team — there was no way a new, bright football mind could sign on the dotted line with a controversial quarterback once again. Surely someone else was to blame. So, for a moment, wild theories surmised the Wilfs — an ownership group famous for “hands-off” tendencies on football operations — lurked in the backdrop banging the table for Cousins to remain. The anti-Cousins faction could stomach the idea golden boy, Adofo-Mensah, would disagree with their longstanding resentment toward Cousins.

On the whole, though, the Smith signing even silenced some of the Wilfs-turned-heel naysayers.

And the Kwesi honeymoon resumed. Signing All-Pro former Packers has that effect.

Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. His YouTube Channel, VikesNow, debuts in March 2022. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).