GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah holds Vikings' future — and his own — in his hands

The agenda stacked on Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's desk is crammed full of big-ticket decisions. Every NFL offseason demands of general managers a certain degree of roster reconstruction and financial gymnastics. That's just the nature of the job.

What Adofo-Mensah is staring at falls under a different category.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of his blueprint for the Vikings this offseason. The one-time Wall Street commodities trader believes in the power of collaboration, but this is his direction, his legacy, in what represents the organization's most impactful offseason in a decade.

So good luck, Kwesi. Don't get this wrong.

"It's of the utmost importance," Adofo-Mensah acknowledged Wednesday at his season-ending news conference. "I can't really run from that in any kind of way."

All the overarching decisions are interrelated because every move has a domino effect on the salary cap and money available to address an abundance of roster flaws.

The starting point, of course, is at quarterback, and Adofo-Mensah reiterated that he hopes to re-sign Kirk Cousins but that nothing is certain until after negotiations.

I asked Adofo-Mensah if he will have enough money left to fix roster deficiencies if he elects to re-sign Cousins and give Justin Jefferson what is expected to be a historic contract, with left tackle Christian Darrisaw waiting on deck for a massive payday.

"I believe we do," he said.

That remains to be seen. One giant hurdle in the pathway is that Adofo-Mensah must clean up a problem that he created with his 2022 draft, his debut in charge of personnel.

Adofo-Mensah chose six players in the first 165 picks, five of them defensive players. The impact of those five has been minimal. One of the picks, former Gophers lineman Esezi Otomewo, is no longer with the organization. After two seasons, none of those players can be labeled a long-term building block.

Adofo-Mensah noted that every player develops at a different rate and certainly the final analysis cannot yet be written about the 2022 class, but the lack of impact from that group compels Adofo-Mensah to re-address positions that he intended to solidify in his first draft.

The defense's depth got exposed this season largely because of too many draft-day misses.

Adofo-Mensah, 42 and nearing his second anniversary with the Vikings, loves to reflect on his background in risk management when discussing football operations. The safest choice at quarterback is to both re-sign Cousins and use the No. 11 pick on a quarterback. That addresses today and tomorrow at the most important position. But again, at what immediate effect on other positions?

Fan dissatisfaction over Adofo-Mensah's and Kevin O'Connell's job performances this season picked up steam. Adofo-Mensah needs to pull the right strings to put the Vikings on a course that eventually removes the organization from this playoff-bubble force field. Sometimes they make the playoffs, sometimes they don't. But they don't bottom out, and they don't rise to being a true championship contender.

Owner Mark Wilf laid out his vision — perhaps his family's directive — on the day the team fired general manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer two years ago. Wilf said he expected the team to be "super-competitive" in 2022.

The Vikings won 13 games in O'Connell's first season. The Wilfs are fans. They love to win. They don't hide their emotions, happy or dejected, after games.

The guess here is that ownership does not have the stomach for the kind of losing season that secures a top-3 draft pick and choice of quarterbacks.

They likely see a roster that has enough talent to compete for a playoff spot, yet the leap from that distinction to the next level requires hard decisions and shrewd personnel evaluations.

Adofo-Mensah noted that his original goal of a "competitive rebuild" needs to be amended.

"We want to get to a place where there is no rebuild," he said. "It's just competitive in a window. I think we're close to that."

How close is debatable. They do not feel close right now.

Adofo-Mensah is entering a defining offseason — defining for his tenure and the organization's future.