Zulgad: Vikings’ draft decisions paint a clear picture of when Super Bowl run should come
The Minnesota Vikings might not have had a plethora of selections during the three-day NFL draft, but the picks they did make, especially the two in the first round on Thursday, provided a clear view of the direction in which general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is taking this franchise.
Where would that be? To open a Super Bowl window starting with the 2025 season.
That conclusion comes from following the trail of bread crumbs that Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell have been leaving for many months. The latest batch came Thursday through Saturday as the Vikings were able to land one of the quarterbacks they targeted, by trading up one pick to select Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy at No. 10, and then by paying a significant price to move from No. 23 to 17 to select standout edge rusher Dallas Turner from Alabama.
Those trades, and others made by Adofo-Mensah, leave him open to second-guessing because he didn’t have picks in the second, third and fifth rounds. But the decisions make more sense if you look at the pattern he and coach Kevin O’Connell are using as far as roster construction is concerned.
The Vikings’ free agency losses in March cost them two quality players in quarterback Kirk Cousins and edge rusher Danielle Hunter. But that also created the type of salary cap space this team lacked for so long in part because of Cousins’ contract(s).
Hunter was replaced in free agency by the edge rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel. Turner, who had 10 sacks last season en route to being named the SEC defensive player of the year, gives the Vikings the type of quality depth on the edge that defensive coordinator Brian Flores didn’t have last season.
The Vikings’ two top quarterback targets in the draft — at least the ones that were believed to be realistic — were North Carolina’s Drake Maye and McCarthy. The Vikings reportedly made a substantial offer to the New England Patriots for the third pick in order to take Maye but were rebuffed. Minnesota held the No. 11 pick and, thus, began the waiting game that Adofo-Mensah brought to an end by making a trade with the New York Jets to go up one spot.
O’Connell and new quarterbacks coach Josh McCown will become McCarthy’s near constant companion as they develop him and, in the meantime, have veteran free agent addition Sam Darnold in the starting role. That is one of the reasons why the Vikings will target 2024 as being competitive but also remain realistic as far as what it means in the ultra-competitive NFC North.
O’Connell declined to speculate on when McCarthy might start, but both O’Connell and McCown were quarterbacks in the NFL and are aware of how much damage can be done by throwing a young QB (McCarthy turned 21 in January) in before he’s ready.
The five selections the Vikings made from the fourth through seventh rounds likely only turned out one player who will be a regular this season. That would be sixth-round kicker Will Reichard of Alabama.
The Vikings also haven’t made big steps to address their needs along the interior offensive and defensive lines, as well as at the No. 3 wide receiver spot and cornerback, although they expressed optimism about adding 6-foot-4 cornerback Khyree Jackson in the fourth round.
Adofo-Mensah’s wheeling and dealing also leaves the Vikings with only three draft picks, including their first-rounder, in the 2025. (They are expected to get a compensatory pick in the third round because of free agent losses in 2024.)
Working under the assumption McCarthy is ready to hit the ground running in 2025, and the Vikings almost certainly are, the significant needs this team has remaining next year will be addressed in free agency. The projected cap for that season, according to Over The Cap, will be $260 million and right now the Vikings’ cap space is projected at $102.453 million, putting them fourth in the NFL.
The dead money from Cousins’ and Hunter’s contracts also will be gone.
That means the Vikings will go from carrying an NFL-high $57.4 million in dead money for 2024 to zero in 2025. It’s expected wide receiver Justin Jefferson will sign a contract in the coming weeks or months that will make him the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL, but Vikings still should be positioned to bid on a top defensive tackle or cornerback, if not both.
There’s also another possibility to add to the equation and it’s one Adofo-Mensah already has used. That would be the NFL trade deadline, which has gone from the dullest deadline in professional sports to a time when savvy teams now improve themselves. Two years ago, Adofo-Mensah made a deal with Detroit at the deadline for T.J. Hockenson and the tight end played a key role in the Vikings’ 13-4 finish.
This year the NFL has moved the deadline back to Nov. 5, creating even more opportunity for deals to be made in the coming years. A significant deadline deal, let’s say for a defensive tackle or cornerback, could be costly in 2025 but keep this in mind:
If the Vikings look to be in a spot to compete for the first Super Bowl championship in franchise history, is anyone going to complain about giving up picks?
I didn’t think so.
