Post by Purple Pain on Apr 3, 2024 10:14:36 GMT -6
Kevin Seifert: What is coach Kevin O'Connell's vision for Vikings' next QB?
If you've listened carefully in recent weeks, two words in particular have flowed from the Minnesota Vikings' top decision-makers as they attempt a dramatic quarterback transition from Kirk Cousins to a rookie they hope to draft this month.
"We need another team to be complicit," coach Kevin O'Connell said last week at the annual NFL meeting.
"When we enter this draft," general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said, "we have the flexibility to go either way."
The search for a complicit team willing to facilitate a trade up in the draft, and the need for flexibility to adjust if they can't find one, is the middle ground the Vikings are operating in. No matter how much they might want to draft LSU's Jayden Daniels, North Carolina's Drake Maye, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy or even USC's Caleb Williams, they almost certainly can't do it with the better of their two first-round picks at No. 11 overall.
Last week's league meeting, moreover, helped demonstrate the competition they'll face even if they do find willing trade partners. Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton, for one, said last week he believes it's "realistic" to trade up from his team's spot at No. 12 to find a replacement for Russell Wilson.
On the one hand, they've made deep plans to evaluate the top prospects via private workouts and/or visits, and they formed the outlines of a structure focused on developing a rookie quarterback. On the other, they're preparing for the possibility of riding with offseason free agent addition Sam Darnold in 2024 and then regrouping with either a quarterback drafted with a lower pick or perhaps a look ahead to the 2025 class.
Naturally, there is a level of gamesmanship involved in their comments. No team in their position would sell out publicly toward one outcome. But the Vikings also know they can't will themselves to draft a coveted quarterback prospect, even after acquiring additional draft capital -- including the No. 23 overall pick from the Houston Texans -- last month.
"There's a lot of scenarios," Adofo-Mensah told the Vikings' website in Orlando. "I like the flexibility that those two picks give us. I don't think they lock us into any one strategy. I know the mock draft season is here, so I think people are probably thinking they know with more certainty what we're going to do than the Vikings do. But we're excited about the flexibility we have and we're going to approach our board with that mindset."
"We need another team to be complicit," coach Kevin O'Connell said last week at the annual NFL meeting.
"When we enter this draft," general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said, "we have the flexibility to go either way."
The search for a complicit team willing to facilitate a trade up in the draft, and the need for flexibility to adjust if they can't find one, is the middle ground the Vikings are operating in. No matter how much they might want to draft LSU's Jayden Daniels, North Carolina's Drake Maye, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy or even USC's Caleb Williams, they almost certainly can't do it with the better of their two first-round picks at No. 11 overall.
Last week's league meeting, moreover, helped demonstrate the competition they'll face even if they do find willing trade partners. Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton, for one, said last week he believes it's "realistic" to trade up from his team's spot at No. 12 to find a replacement for Russell Wilson.
On the one hand, they've made deep plans to evaluate the top prospects via private workouts and/or visits, and they formed the outlines of a structure focused on developing a rookie quarterback. On the other, they're preparing for the possibility of riding with offseason free agent addition Sam Darnold in 2024 and then regrouping with either a quarterback drafted with a lower pick or perhaps a look ahead to the 2025 class.
Naturally, there is a level of gamesmanship involved in their comments. No team in their position would sell out publicly toward one outcome. But the Vikings also know they can't will themselves to draft a coveted quarterback prospect, even after acquiring additional draft capital -- including the No. 23 overall pick from the Houston Texans -- last month.
"There's a lot of scenarios," Adofo-Mensah told the Vikings' website in Orlando. "I like the flexibility that those two picks give us. I don't think they lock us into any one strategy. I know the mock draft season is here, so I think people are probably thinking they know with more certainty what we're going to do than the Vikings do. But we're excited about the flexibility we have and we're going to approach our board with that mindset."