Vikings will draft for "impact and not need," GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah says
The Minnesota Vikings' general manager is being characteristically clandestine about the team's plans for the NFL draft.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spoke to the media on Thursday, a week before the first round of the 2025 draft begins. As expected, he offered little in the way of concrete plans, but did elucidate the team's overall approach.
"You have to earn the right to be the type of team and type of organization that drafts for impact and not need," Adofo-Mensah said. "I think we were able to do that a lot in what we did in free agency and some of the things we've done in the past couple years here to build to that place."
It's true that the Vikings have spent the past two offseasons plugging holes up and down the roster.
Last year, they overhauled the pass rush with free agents Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel and addressed the quarterback position with first-round pick J.J. McCarthy.
This offseason, the focus has been on the trenches. On the offensive side, the team added veteran center Ryan Kelly and his former Indianapolis Colts teammate Will Fries, considered the top free-agent guard. On defense, free agents Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave make for a tenable interior. The team also re-signed safety Harrison Smith and cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., traded for running back Jordan Mason, added a potential No. 3 receiver in Rondale Moore and made a slew of other depth moves.
All of those maneuvers leave the Vikings with few glaring holes as the draft approaches, which is good, because they also have few draft picks. While some wheeling and dealing could change this, they currently hold just four picks.
"We'll always maximize what we have and try to do the best thing for the Vikings," Adofo-Mensah said.
Part of the reason for the dearth of selections is last year's dual first-round trades — first to acquire the 23rd overall pick, then to move up to 17th to take edge rusher Dallas Turner. The Vikings have been criticized for the capital surrendered, especially in light of Turner's third-place position in the pass-rushing pecking order last season. Adofo-Mensah said he's as hard on himself as anybody, but he stands by the logic behind the trades.
"I know exactly why we did those things at the time. The move to get to 23 was about optionality," he said. "Looking back at it, we feel good about that exact approach and that exact thought process."
With McCarthy, last year's No. 10 overall pick, seemingly set to start at QB, that's one position that can be eliminated from the Vikings' first-round options. But they're still in need of a veteran backup. There's been speculation the team is waiting to address the position in hopes of earning a compensatory draft pick next year, but the general manager said that's not the only factor.
"It hasn't only been about the comp pick situation, but we are on the look for that," he said. "Quarterback-wise, we're going to focus on, as my staff always does, best opportunities there. So we're not going to rush it either way, but we're always mindful of it."
The first round of the draft starts at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Vikings' first pick is currently slated for No. 24 overall.
