Feelings aside, moving on from Kirk Cousins ‘the right thing,’ Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell says

The Vikings had signed eight players in the first two days of the NFL league year, their biggest splash in free agency since Kwesi Adofo-Mensah became general manager in 2022. The team was set to introduce five of those players — quarterback Sam Darnold, running back Aaron Jones and linebackers Jonathan Greenard, Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkel — to reporters later on Thursday afternoon.

But first, as Adofo-Mensah sat at a table with coach Kevin O’Connell, was the business of explaining why they decided to move on from the quarterback they’d both said they wanted to keep.

“Everybody knows how myself, [Kwesi], this organization feels about Kirk,” O’Connell said. “And you know, sometimes things just don’t work out. ... In the end, as much as I would have maybe liked to have Kirk here, the right thing moving forward for our team is where we are today.”

In some ways, this was the point, two years into their stewardship of the Vikings’ football fortunes, where Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell had finally gained autonomy. Their financial situation was as free of obstructions as ever, following the 2023 decisions to release veterans like Eric Kendricks, Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook and their guarded approach to contract negotiations with Cousins that ultimately led the quarterback to leave.

O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah were staring at a bright, open future, with more than $100 million of salary cap space available to them in 2025. And they were, at least for now, without a long-term solution at quarterback, a proven group of cornerbacks and a contract with Justin Jefferson.

The solutions to those problems will be theirs to find, starting with a widely-expected search for a rookie quarterback this spring. Their breakups with Cousins and Danielle Hunter, two of the final links to the Rick Spielman-Mike Zimmer era, made it as clear as ever the Vikings’ decision-makers were setting out on their own.

“When you sit down, and you look at your team when you first inherit it, you ask yourself, ‘How good can we be?’” Adofo-Mensah said. “We’ve always talked about, it’s being in the tournament, every year, to give yourself a chance. And so how do you set yourself up for that with the flexibility to go on different paths?”

He added that he was “not going to use that term” he used to use — a likely reference to “competitive rebuild” — ever again. “But,” he said, “that is a part of it: giving yourself the flexibility to win now, to win in the future and that’s what we’re designed to do.”

If signing Cousins to a fully-guaranteed $84 million deal in 2018 was the move that defined Spielman’s final years in Minnesota, letting him leave could be the decision that defines Adofo-Mensah’s tenure. The quarterback was introduced in Atlanta on Wednesday after signing a four-year, $180 million deal, contrasting his Falcons deal with an approach from the Vikings he felt had become “year-to-year.” (By saying he had talked with the Falcons’ head athletic trainer on Tuesday, before he signed, Cousins might have inadvertently kicked off a NFL tampering investigation; a source confirmed the league is looking into whether the Falcons tampered with Cousins.)

The Vikings had talked with Cousins about a new deal each of the past three offseasons, but remained consistent in their caution not to sign him for more than two years. With Cousins coming off an Achilles injury and set to turn 36 in August, it’s believed the Vikings were willing to give him full guarantees for one year, but not offer the two fully-guaranteed seasons he got from the Falcons.

Both O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah said there was “complete alignment” between them on how to approach negotiations with Cousins, and Adofo-Mensah added, “I think we’ve been very clear since we got here that we like Kirk Cousins. We’ve been very clear that we think we could win a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins.”

They wanted to regain the cap flexibility the Vikings had lacked in recent years, though. “This sport isn’t such where you can just say on a binary basis, ‘I want that player.’ We have a sport that only gives you a certain number of draft picks, a salary cap, competition versus other teams,” Adofo-Mensah said.

With more than $35 million of cap space to spend at the beginning of free agency, they signed Greenard, Cashman and Van Ginkel to fortify a defense that surprised for much of 2023 under Brian Flores.

“I’m very excited about these guys and what they’re going to bring to our team,” O’Connell said. “The role of ‘Flo,’ in his dialogue with Kwesi and myself and how this has all come together, it was very positive for me as the head coach, knowing what we needed to get done.”

Though Adofo-Mensah demurred on Thursday when asked if Cousins’ departure means the Vikings have to draft a QB this spring, the team could be aggressive in pursuing the passer that could define the GM’s time with O’Connell. They pick 11th, but could move up for the player they want even if they have to offer future first-rounders in a deal. The Vikings have only one other top-100 pick in this year’s draft (their second-rounder at No. 42 overall) to offer in a trade up, which might necessitate them including another first-round pick to move up.

Whatever their approach, the Vikings could be as bold with rookies in April as they were with veterans in March. Parting with Cousins confirmed whatever path the Vikings are on now, it won’t be boring.

“The additions that Kwesi made to this roster, and where we’re going to take it from here,” O’Connell said, “is something that provides you with a lot of excitement about where we can take it.”