Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Offers Cousins, Jefferson, Hunter Updates
Dustin Baker
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Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took the microphone at the 2024 NFL Combine on Tuesday, about two weeks from the start of free agency.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Offers Cousins, Jefferson, Hunter Updates
The young executive is tasked with completing his competitive rebuild strategy this offseason or next, so the next few months are ultra-important for the long-term course of Vikings football.
Predictably, Adofo-Mensah was asked about Minnesota’s three major offseason dominoes: Kirk Cousins’ future with the club, Danielle Hunter’s free agency, and Justin Jefferson’s contract extension.
Here’s how he replied.
On Kirk Cousins
Cousins has quarterbacked the Vikings for six seasons, but nobody knows if it’ll be seven. The mystery has genuine coinflip stakes. Adofo-Mensah, though, wants Cousins back — at the right price.
“Had a great conversation with him a few days ago. At the end of the day, it’s we have our interests, he has his, and we get to the table and see if we can figure out a creative solution and how to meet in the middle. What we do know is we have a really great quarterback, a great leader, and somebody that we think we can win the ultimate prize with, and so that’s ultimately what I focus on, and that’s where we’re at right now,” Adofo-Mensah told reporters.
Cousins’ next contract is expected to fetch $35-$50 million per season.
It seems Cousins will be back in Minnesota so long as he doesn’t want to utterly break the bank or require a huge guaranteed sum. But those are huge ifs.
On Danielle Hunter
Hunter has played in Minnesota since 2015 and declared a few times his desire to retire as a Viking. Adofo-Mensah mentioned his impending free agency, “He had a great season, and I don’t know that anybody who’s in Minnesota is surprised by that. Danielle walks out of bed and is gonna sack the quarterback, pressure, impact the game. That’s who he is.”
Suitors will line up aplenty for the 29-year-old if Minnesota cannot finalize an agreement.
Adofo-Mensah also said, “We’ll have fruitful dialogues like we always do. It’s not just about this season, it’s the next season, all these things. Always gotta remember, the players have their needs from their standpoint. And I always respect that. So we’ll go to the table and see if we can figure out, talk about a way to kind of find a deal to meet in the middle.”
On Justin Jefferson
Jefferson is due for a ginormous extension, probably the largest in NFL history for a non-quarterback. And Adofo-Mensah knows it.
“We’ve said it, and we’ll continue to say it: we think he’s the best wide receiver in the league and should be compensated as such. We think he’s one of the best non-quarterbacks in the league, think he should be compensated as such,” Adofo-Mensah explained the state of play regarding Jefferson.
He also said trading Jefferson isn’t an option. “That is not something that has ever crossed my mind,” Adofo-Mensah replied when a reporter asked about trading Jefferson as a possibility.
He added, “You got a blue player, a blue person. You try to keep as many of those as you can.”
Adofo-Mensah, too, stated the Vikings and Jefferson were “incredibly close” to making the extension final last September.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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