Vikings Have Finally Moved Past a Major Blunder
In 2022, the Minnesota Vikings moved on from the previous regime by firing head coach Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman. Two first-timers, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell, were hired to take their spots. A few months in, the duo faced its first significant task on the job when the draft rolled around. The results were a disaster.
Let’s fast forward nearly four years. On Tuesday, running back Ty Chandler, a 2022 fifth-rounder, agreed to terms with the New Orleans Saints, confirming a reality many had been expecting for a couple of years. Not a single Vikings draft pick from 2022 received a second contract with the franchise.
The Vikings entered that draft with the 12th overall pick; surely, that would help find a new franchise player. Well, Adofo-Mensah shipped that pick to Detroit for pick 32 and used that to acquire safety Lewis Cine. In theory, adding more picks makes sense, but it only works if their own picks work out. Cine did not.
He played in ten games and was cut after his third preseason. A nasty injury in his rookie year, combined with a coordinator and scheme change, didn’t help, but it can’t be ruled out that he just didn’t have what it takes.
What makes matters worse is that picks 12 through 14 have all had a pretty good career and Adofo-Mensah had the option to draft one of them: Jameson Williams, Jordan Davis, or Kyle Hamilton. He also passed on first-rounders Trent McDuffie, Tyler Smith, and Tyler Linderbaum.
Unfortunately, the draft didn’t even trend up after Cine’s selection. Entering the second round with pick 34, Adofo-Menash traded that to Green Bay. That trade was a massive win on the trade charts, as he received a couple of second-rounders. He ultimately traded up once for Andrew Booth and also picked Ed Ingram in the process.
Cornerback Booth struggled with injuries in his Vikings tenure and was traded in the summer of 2024 to Dallas in exchange for Nahshon Wright. He also encountered the problem of being drafted into one scheme and suddenly having to work in another. However, he also hasn’t particularly thrived elsewhere and is in the UFL now.
Ingram started 41 games through three seasons, but was one of the worst guards in the NFL. Last offseason, the Vikings traded him to Houston for a late-rounder, where he had his best season and received a sweet contract extension. It’s fair to wonder whether the coaching could have been the issue in his case.
The Vikings had a third pick on Day 2, selecting linebacker Brian Asamoah early in the third round. The linebacker showed flashes as a rotational player in his rookie season, but new coordinator Brian Flores didn’t use him on defense. Asamoah was waived last summer and has bounced around since.
The Vikings added another six players on draft Saturday.
Cornerback Akayleb Evans was a rotational player in 2022 and a full-time starter in 2023. He was surprisingly waived during his third season with the club and has been with the Panthers since. Defensive lineman Esezi Otomewo was another player Flores didn’t like, as he was cut entering his second season. He’s still in the league, mostly as a rotational defensive lineman.
Chandler has been a depth running back and is one of only two players who fulfilled their entire four-year contract. He has never truly established himself on offense, but has been a useful backup and special-teams player.
Offensive tackle Vederian Lowe was traded after one season for a sixth-rounder, which was his original draft slot. The pick was a wash, but he was a solid backup tackle for the New England Patriots and just signed a lucrative deal with the 49ers.
Wideout Jalen Nailor is undoubtedly the best pick on the list, carving out a nice role as the team’s WR3. He just received a paycheck from the Las Vegas Raiders. And finally, reserve tight end Nick Muse, who appeared in 16 games with the Vikings and departed after the 2024 season when he joined the Eagles on the Super Bowl run.
It’s been a disastrous group. Adofo-Mensah worked with the scouting department from the previous regime, then traded down just to trade, picked the wrong players, and didn’t get much help from the coaching staff in developing players. The change from Ed Donatell to Brian Flores certainly helped the defensive success and the operation, but the players selected for Donatell’s scheme were in trouble.
At the end of the day, the draft will go down as one of the worst in recent memory, with some role players and many more players that didn’t work out at all. What was supposed to kickstart the new era of Vikings football turned out to be a huge stinker.
Next month, the decision-makers want to do a better job at finding the next generation of Minnesota Vikings.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.
You must be logged in to post a comment.