Vikings look ahead: Kirk Cousins expected back, Ed Donatell's fate unclear, contract issues loom

Three days after a home playoff loss ended the Vikings' 13-win season, General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah reached back into his Wall Street past for context about a unique run that met an abrupt end.

"I'm a little out of it, so I couldn't tell you where the S&P500 is, but I would say obviously you have startups and you have your longer-tenured core [stocks] that have earned money for a long time. I think we're somewhere in between," Adofo-Mensah said. "A startup in the sense that we are in transition: we brought in a new culture, we brought in a new way of playing, but I think this year we established our ability to earn. In our business, earnings are wins.

"We've shown that we have a culture and ability to do those things at a really high level, but I wouldn't say that we're the established 'there' team. … We want to be. That's why I'd say we're in between those two stages right now and we are trying to be that mature team that goes every year to the playoffs and has a championship standard."

In March, Adofo-Mensah called the Vikings' approach in his first season a "competitive rebuild" as they retained veteran holdovers in an effort to return to the playoffs while trying to replenish the roster for the future. The initial returns of that approach were impressive: the Vikings won at least 13 games for only the third time in franchise history, set a NFL record by winning 11 one-score games and claimed their first NFC North title since 2017.

On Wednesday, the Vikings gave no indications they plan to step back from that approach. Adofo-Mensah said he expects Kirk Cousins will return as the Vikings' starting quarterback at age 35 next year, while adding the team has held initial discussions with Justin Jefferson's agent about a contract extension for the 23-year-old receiver. The deal for the record-breaking receiver could reset the market at his position, but Adofo-Mensah called questions of how to fit Jefferson's contract into the Vikings' salary cap "champagne problems" he was happy to face because it means keeping a player of Jefferson's caliber.

The Vikings, though, will face a series of pivotal decisions about a team that currently has only four picks in the 2023 draft and significant salary cap questions. They must figure out how to upgrade a defense that finished 28th in points allowed (25.1 ppg) before yielding 431 yards in the team's wild-card playoff loss to the Giants, and determine the futures of several veteran players with expensive contracts.

The first set of changes could come with the coaching staff, though Kevin O'Connell said Wednesday he was still evaluating the season when asked about defensive coordinator Ed Donatell's future.

"Part of self-reflecting and part of us reflecting as a staff is making sure we're taking a look at every aspect of our football team and our coaching staff to make sure that we're doing everything to put our players and our organization in the best possible situation to have success," O'Connell said. "So that is an ongoing process, and will continue throughout the rest of this week."

Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell spoke three days after the Vikings lost their home playoff game to a Giants team they'd beaten 27-24 at U.S. Bank Stadium three weeks earlier, and the shock of that loss was still on their minds as they wrapped up the season.

They will face higher expectations (and a difficult schedule) in 2023 after a 13-win regular season, and will try to please an eager fan base now four years removed from the Vikings' last playoff win. After a year in which Adofo-Mensah said the Vikings "laid a foundation for where we want to go," they'll need to show they can add to it.

"I think we showed a building full of people, players, coaches, staff, ownership group that have the ability to be their best when their best is required," he said. "Like KO said in his final meeting, it's supposed to hurt. It's supposed to sting, and we're still feeling that here. But I will say, that hurt, that sting — that will motivate us to lead this organization to the place we want to go."