New Buzzword Enters Vikings Orbit
NFL free agency kicks off in 11 days, and the Minnesota Vikings currently have around $63 million to spend on in-house players and external newcomers.
New Buzzword Enters Vikings Orbit
At the top of the ticket, fans have wondered what the franchise will do at quarterback, either re-signing 2024 QB1 Sam Darnold, franchise tagging-and-trading him, or letting Darnold test the open market. If Darnold is not “the guy” next season, quarterback J.J. McCarthy will almost certainly take over QB1 responsibilities.
And because Minnesota has so many alternatives, especially with former New York Giants starter Daniel Jones in the roster orbit, the Vikings have a new buzzword this offseason: optionality.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah used the term this week at the 2025 NFL Combine, explaining his organization’s flexibility at the sport’s most important position. “Every option is afforded to us. When we did the move originally, we wanted to create optionality,” Adofo-Mensah argued.
“And part of the optionality was believing and betting on a guy who was young, talented — believing in our infrastructure to be able to do the things we can do with the quarterbacks. So, we’re now in a position where we have options. And we’ll continue to work those options, figure out the best way for the Vikings to move forward.”
Head coach Kevin O’Connell mentioned about his quarterback strategy, “We’re evaluating the short-term and long-term aspects of it. It’s still early in the offseason process.”
And he said about Darnold: “I’ve had great dialogue with Sam from the time the season ended up until very, very recently. Sam is in a position where the NFL thinks he can play football at a very high level. We’ll see where it goes.”
What is optionality? It’s exactly what it sounds like. The Vikings aren’t sworn to a binary choice of “We let Darnold leave, so McCarthy is the guy” or “Let’s kick Daniel Jones out and keep Darnold.” On the contrary, because of the relationships they have brokered over the last year, the Vikings have multiple options at quarterback, providing unique QB flexibility this offseason when some teams, like the Las Vegas Raiders, have zero starting quarterbacks in their roster orbit. The Vikings have three.
Adofo-Mensah also talked about the oddity of losing to the same teams four times in 2024 and Darnold’s role last year: “I was telling my staff if I could have thought of a brain teaser, of an experiment to think through, that would have been a pretty tough one where, Pro Bowl quarterback, win all those games and then lose to two teams twice.”
“And so that was really kind of the core of our offseason, really thinking through that holistically, trying not to be overweighted by those eight quarters, but not to underweigh those last two games.”
Optionality can be reasonably swapped with another Kwesi Adofo-Mensah-ism from last offseason: champagne problems.
A Vikings Dream Will Finally Come True
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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