The Minnesota Vikings finished their season on Sunday afternoon with a 30-20 loss to the Detroit Lions.
On Wednesday afternoon, both head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spoke to the media about the season that just passed, the offseason and beyond.
Kevin O'Connell's opening statement
Good afternoon, everybody. Appreciate you guys joining us today. Just wanted to first start out and make sure that I personally say thank you to everybody in our building that makes it possible for us to do what we do every single day. It always starts with our ownership and the resources
that they provide us. Ultimately, how fortunate I feel to be in a position to be in to lead this team. Although we came up short of the goals we had for our season and our team this year, I definitely want to make sure I thank our players. It was a joy to coach this team this year, even in the face of some of
the adversity we tried to meet head on week in and week out. These guys continued to battle, fight, band together. Ultimately, that locker room was as strong as ever in those moments of adversity. I think it’s a credit to those guys and our leadership and everything that they’re all about. I think our
identity and what we want to be, what we want to have as far as the characteristics of players being tough, accountable, guys that want to be a part of this building every single day for the right reasons. I feel so strongly about so much of our core being just that. We know we are going to continue to chase what we came here to do and what our players know is the ultimate goal and that is chasing a world championship. In the short term, making sure we’re right back where we should be, competing for the NFC North title. We feel very strongly about our ability to do that. Together with Kwesi (AdofoMensah), I look forward to attacking the challenges of the offseason that come each and every year. I’m excited about the opportunity to do so. I’m excited about our coaching staff. I feel very strongly about our coordinators and ultimately the leadership in this organization that I get blessed to work with every single day. Me personally, I feel like I’ve grown a lot in this role. I came in here with kind of that growth mindset, feeling very strongly about the principles that I want this football team to have, the type of culture we want to have and continue to thrive and grow every single day and ultimately staying true to the process that I believe will lead to the results that we want and that we are going to work towards. Lastly, I know I mentioned it many, many times at the podium this year, just our fans.
We didn’t have the type of success we should at home, especially with our great fans and what U.S. Bank Stadium means to me and our team. I just think we’re so fortunate to have the opportunity to have the home field advantage that we do, and we need to get back like we did a season ago to the
type of success that we needed to have defending our home turf. That will be a huge priority going into 2024. But with that I’ll turn it over to Kwesi.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah opening statement
I’d like to start off by echoing Kevin’s thoughts of gratitude. First, our players. Obviously, we faced a lot of adversity this season. I think Kevin said it to the team on their exit, but we never saw them blink. Not a moment that we did not see them fight until the end. Obviously, didn’t end up where we wanted it to but that doesn’t mean their effort wasn’t exemplary. Same with our coaches. They spent a lot of time away from their families helping us and maintain a standard. As someone who watches that closely when I leave the building late, they’re all still there. I want to make sure I send that appreciation in. Our whole football operation, an incredible effort put forth. Again, just because we didn’t get where we wanted to go didn’t mean that there wasn’t effort at that championship level. Our ownership group, the Wilfs, and everything they provide is incredible. Our fans. I don’t take it for one second that I get to be in a place in this job where football matters and we have a great fan base. I’ll keep it brief. We faced a lot of adversity this season, but you want to get to a point in your program where you can overcome that adversity and still be playing in the tournament. Obviously, we didn’t meet that, and we are going to spend this offseason working our butts off to get there with collaboration and everything we have in this building. It doesn’t feel good to be up here and not playing. We want to keep going towards that goal. With that we’ll take questions.
How have you two collaborated and evolved?
Adofo-Mensah: Yeah, I would say that it started really with the interview process. We developed a common language, how we communicate with each other, how we talk about risk-reward, how it’s going to be on the field, what this means to our team, so we’re very comfortable in those situations right now. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of addressing needs in those ways and that collaboration will continue. It’s not just with Kevin, it’s with my staff, with his coaches, a lot of people in this building who, I think this building does a really good job of incorporating a lot of different viewpoints and we’ll continue to try to get better with our process to make sure those viewpoints result in just the best results we can.
Where are you in that competitive rebuild?
Adofo-Mensah: Yeah, I think when you look at that, the point of that was to still provide ourselves a chance in the tournament every year while regaining financial flexibility, finding the next generation of great Vikings players, incorporating our systems that we value so much, and I think when you look back at it, I think we’ve done a lot of positives. I think we’ve regained some of our financial flexibility. We have competed to be in the tournament last year as the division champions and this year, through adversity, had a lot of
meaningful games late, and there’s some things we need to be better at, no question. I think, again, you want to get to a point from a depth, from a top end standpoint, where you can overcome the adversity we have, so right now, in the competitive rebuild, we want to get to a place where there’s no rebuild,
right, it’s just competitive in a window, and I think we’re close to that. It’s going to take a big offseason. It’s why we’re going to be here a lot, and I think it’s important and its key, and I’m excited for the challenge.
What did this year teach you about yourselves and your roles?
O’Connell: Yeah, I know for me personally, part of leadership is leading from the front in those times of adversity, and even sometimes, when things get hard, you need to be at your best for your team and I think the players and the coaches, that’s what they look for in me, and I’d like to think that through that adversity, I was able to do that enough to know that there’s a lot of things that I still need to improve on, still need to grow from, evaluate every aspect of not only my own personal process of how I go about the preparation of our football team, but then the ebbs and flows of the season and making sure that I’m doing everything possible with the experience that I’ve gained to continue to put our team in the best possible situations to feel like whenever they hit the field for 3.5 hours on Sunday that they’re at their absolute best because of how we prepared mentally, how we prepared physically, how we handled the transitions of the schedule of the NFL season and then as we started talking throughout the season, that next man up mentality, it became a pretty much a weekly dialogue to us in this room but what does that really look like from the standpoint of being able to sustain? What’re we doing from a player development standpoint? How are we maximizing our time year-round with the guys on our roster? That’s something I feel very strongly about spearheading and making sure that we’re constantly chasing improvement but understanding that it’s okay for me to be constantly evolving and growing, and that’s what makes this job what it is. It’s something that you know that’s what it’s going to be, the reality of it, and I’ll never forget Coach Grant talking to me about that as the evolving, and the learning, and the growing he was doing after all the success he had had in his career, down to his very last opportunity to be head coach in this league, and that always stuck with me. I think that’s what the opportunity to become a head coach, you better be willing to constantly have that mindset and that’s something I feel very strongly about.
How does your defensive depth from your recent drafts impact your decisions?
Adofo-Mensah: Yeah, it’s a great question and ultimately, when you talk about young players, the path isn’t always linear, right? When you study these things, first and foremost, you know that when you study development curves, nobody is peaking in year one, that’s not how it happens. Also, you know that players sometimes it’s year three, five, whatever it is, for different situations and where it’s hard is when you have a player that you have some belief that they could be something in the future, if you bring in a veteran
who’s probably better today, you limit that potential for every seeing it, so it’s that go between which is difficult. Every team faces it, I’m not going to sit here and ask and say that our challenge is any different than anybody else’s, but to your point, it is something we have to be thoughtful and really be accountable to. At the end of the day, it’s a results business for me, for everybody in this building, and so at some point, we need to just ask those hard questions and see we’re going with those things, but I can tell you this, you believe in those positive sloping lines as long as they show up, do the right thing, are about the right stuff, and a lot of the guys you’re talking about are, and we’re going to keep believing in them, but we’re also going to obviously be prepared to improve this roster the best way we see fit.
Two of the players in that group are Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth – two high picks. Why didn’t they play this year, and do you think they have a future with you guys?
Adofo-Mensah: Yeah, I think obviously who plays is who gives us the best chance to win today, and GMs are probably always willing to take a little more risk today versus the future. All I can say about those two particular
players is they work their butts off. They show up. They do all the right things. Everything is different in different situations. Lewis Cine didn’t have a rookie year pretty much. He got the injury and now he comes to learn a new defense with Brian Flores, so I think that has to be considered. Then, Andrew Booth, same thing, learning from a new defense, adjusting to this style of play. We are continuing to believe in our people, pour into them with our player development resources – all the things we have in this building –
but, as I said earlier, it is a results business at the end of the day, and we will see where we end up. But these guys have shown us nothing but reason to believe they are going to keep on their upward path, wherever that ends up, and ultimately, when you make these decisions, we don’t know that to start, but we have our beliefs, and we are going to adjust where we see fit.
Kwesi, would you like to bring Kirk [Cousins] back?
Adofo-Mensah: Yeah, I have said it – I think I have been pretty consistent with that. Kirk, the player, is someone that we saw what he does to this team. I thought we were playing really good football before he got injured and it is the most important position in sports. Ultimately, it always comes down to can you find an agreement that works for both sides and all of those things, but as a player, it is certainly my intention to have him back here.
As you approach that negotiation, what is most important to you?
Adofo-Mensah: It is comfortability. I think there are a lot of factors that go into negotiations, right, so there are levers that you pull that if you get this thing, maybe you give up this other thing. We have a really great shared history with Mike and his other representatives, so these aren’t new conversations that are happening. Each side kind of understands the other and we’re going to go have those conversations and see where we end up.
[Kirk Cousins] talked the other day about structure being important to him. Does his age, the injury affect your willingness to give guaranteed money in the future if that is something that is important to him?
Adofo-Mensah: I mean, there are a lot of factors that go into these things. It is age. It’s injury, but it is also performance. How do you believe the performance will go, and there’s different examples through time. Obviously, you have to also pay attention to the person and what he puts into his body and how regimented and detailed he is. All those factors go into. But, at the end of the day, we are just taking risks, and we try to measure it as best we can and protect ourselves and ensure against it. On his side, he is trying to take less of it. That is his job and they should do that and we will try and find a place in the middle and see where we end up.
How do you balance wanting Kirk [Cousins] back with having a borderline top-10 pick in a pretty talented quarterback draft?
Adofo-Mensah: I think ultimately it is the most important position in our sport, so you want to be thinking long term and short term, and ultimately the Vikings are going to pursue actions that help us in both windows and that is open to any position in the draft, whether we picked 11th or 23rd.
There has been sort of a public narrative that the owners would not be in favor of pulling the band aid off and drafting a quarterback and going with him Week 1. Has that ever been communicated explicitly to you or even implicitly that that’s not on the table here.
Adofo-Mensah: No. I don’t know where that information is coming from. We have a lot of thoughtful dialogue together where lots of ideas are discussed. I don’t know if there’s ever one stance – and you’re also talking about different people, right, different people in the ownership group – but I don’t know that there is ever one stance. We just talk about what are time horizons, what are goals and where we think best to do that. They are from a really sound business mind. They think really strategically, and we have those conversations in that way, but nobody has ever said specifically do not do X or Y.
Or, in a larger sense to make moves and make decisions that might in the short-term impact competitiveness to the benefit of the long term.
Adofo-Mensah: I don’t know that anything has been said clearly. We talk about it in those ways though and you kind of just see what your best path forward. Ultimately, taking a step back in the short term isn’t a big deal if
you don’t think you are actually close to there and those are always the conversations we try and have and go about them.
Q: Do you think you are?
Adofo-Mensah: You know, I think, at different times this year, you would say that, ‘yeah, we’ve shown it.’ And, last year in fact, but, I think, you want to get to that place in your program again like I said, that it is consistent year in and year out and you can overcome adversity. But we are not there to that standard yet, no. But we have made the playoffs. We have been in playoff contention for a lot of this year through a lot of things, so I think we’re pointed in the right direction. It is going to take a big offseason for me to answer that question a little bit more and shorter next time.
If you do resign [Kirk] Cousins, you have to resign [Justin] Jefferson. [Christian] Darrisaw is going to need a big deal. Will you have enough money to fix your roster and make the changes you need?
Adofo-Mensah: We have a lot of talented people in the salary cap department, and it is really just being thoughtful about those contracts. The risk of those contracts and the money out in the future and all those different
things. I believe we do. It depends on now if you do one thing it maybe pins a different option that you can do, but I do believe we do have the ability to both address those offensive players you are talking about but also provide resources for the defense.
Do you have a new premium on how you develop a backup quarterback?
O’Connell: I think you definitely learned through the second half of the season just the ebbs and flows of playing multiple guys and having to bring somebody in the organization really on a short week and they end up leading you to a victory. And just taking the whole inventory of it. I just am huge fan of quarterback development in itself. I think Kirk Cousins has been a guy that put in the time. From when I coached him previously with another team to come in here excited about the opportunity to really build and grow, side
by side with Kirk and building what we believe to be a chance to have a special offense. I do think it’s important though as coaches and working with Kwesi as we make sure we solidify a winning path in that room that revolves around your starter, and most teams in this league are going to be hard pressed. There’s been a lot of teams that haven’t answered that question this year around the NFL. It was a pretty unique year. As far as backups, in some cases playing two or three or four guys – are you equipped? What’s your roster around that player look like? How do you need to maybe adjust the way you try to play the game and win with a complementary style differently than maybe you originally intended. But I do think it’s something we have to pour into both the development of the guys on our roster and then as we
acquire players, in all positions, really taking a look at what does our depth look like. It seems to me much more of a premium at the quarterback position because so many other factors, of your team rely on that position being to a certain standard to have a chance to win football games. And it’s a really good question and I think it’s one that we’ve got to make sure we feel great about the depth and really plan for what types of scenarios we can face, and we faced a lot of them this year.
How do you evaluate the offense without the continuity of personnel?
O’Connell: Yeah, it’s funny cause even when you look back on sequences and certain parts of the year when you felt very strongly about what we’re doing, specifically in general, that stretch there from San Francisco into our trip up to Lambeau Field and JJ [Justin Jefferson] wasn’t out there for that early on in the year where we were pretty effective moving the football when we did have at least 10 of the original 11 out there that we thought we would have. And then, the turnover thing caused us to hit some speed bumps there. So, I think it’s a comprehensive look at what we’ve done really over two years. I think our offense has grown. I think we’ve found some tools and some things to help our best players thrive when we can have them out there as a full group. But ultimately, nobody’s going to ever feel sorry for anybody in this
league when you don’t have a premier player at the receiver position or you’re going to have eight, nine, whatever combinations of offensive linemen out there throughout the year. You know, a guy like T.J. [Hockenson] going down when he did [and] the type of season he was having. And then clearly the
quarterback adversity that we did have. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for that. My job is to make sure we’re consistently doing what we need to do week in and week out to win football games. And it was definitely a process for us this year, specifically for me. I’d like to think that all experience is good experience if you use it the right way, and that’s what we transitioned to now as we get into this offseason and start building 2024 roster.
What did you enjoy about what Brian Flores brought this season and what are you looking forward to next season with him?
O’Connell: Yeah, it is a great question. And first and foremost, with Flo [Brian Flores], could not be more happier with the decision that I made last year to bring him in. He’s been everything and then some as far as what
he’s brought to the mentality to that defensive room. I thought what we created this year was unique and kind of was a product that not only Flo but as defensive staff and guys like Daronte Jones, Mike Siravo and Mike Pettine, some of our assistant position coaches in that room. I was very happy with the way that group tries to evolve, tried to stay ahead of our opponents and continuously provide challenges for our opponents to play against and, and ultimately, I think the most exciting thing is where Flo is going to take that defense from here, and as we can improve our depth and continue to add pieces to that to that side of the football. I have so much confidence in what he’s going to be able to do on that side of the ball. Speaking of depth, just what Matt Daniels was able to do in the special teams phase in the kicking game phase, from a standpoint of everybody always talks about the offense in the defense and how that affects your ability to go around your systems how you want. But Matt Daniels ability to adjust with the roster in some cases late in the week, where will have guys where we won’t? We’re going to have to call guys up and his ability to prepare, really the entirety of our roster, to have an impact and help us function in the kicking game, I thought was really impressive. And some big fakes here and there throughout the year
where I had the trust and the faith that we could pull the trigger on those things and because of the preparation that those guys. And Wes Phillips, as my you know, really my right-hand man. I rely on him so much. There’s a reason why I wanted to make sure I made that a part of my opening comments just because of the faith and the confidence I feel in our leadership on coaching staff allows me to feel very, very confident that we’re going to continue to press onward in real positive way.
Are you planning any changes to the coaching staff?
O’Connell: I’ll continue to — heading back upstairs and will continue finishing up with the 1-on-1 process I do. Monday was really all about the players, getting a chance for Kwesi and I to have 1-on-1 time with every
player on our roster, Injured Reserve, practice squad, and a lot of growth comes out of that, and I think the big part of that is the dialogue we can have and give our players the platform to feel like they have a voice in what this building is all about. Two years in a row it’s been incredibly productive for us and then the next phase is the coaching staff and not only the evaluation that we’ll do throughout the offseason of what we were, but I’m always looking for feedback, constructive criticism on the ways I can do things better for them and ultimately allow them to be better for the players, and I am always going to be in evaluation mode, but I feel very strongly about the staff we have. Anything that comes up, we’ll always make sure we keep you guys posted on, but I’m much too early in the process with those guys and still
giving them the platform to make sure I have all the information and abilities to improve myself first and foremost and continuously look at ways of improving what we provide as a coaching staff to our players.
Do you need to put an emphasis on the running game to make that more effective?
O’Connell: We’re incredibly proud of the passing game we put out there each and every Sunday. There’s always going to be areas of improvement, and I did think through the growth of having to play a significant amount of time without our starting quarterback or the best receiver in football, some of the things that came from that when you may not feel like it in the moment sometimes when the results aren’t what you want, but the growth in our system, the growth of individual players, very important players for this team
moving forward, I think is a positive, as far as, when I look at the run game a lot of times, it’s a marginal difference between the best team running the football in the league or the teams with true balance to their offense that can still throw it at a world-class level but also have the effectiveness to play the game you want to play with the run game being a huge part of it. I think it’s always going to be something we’ll continue to look at. I did think there was some improvement in the run game, how we handled the line of scrimmage, the addition of Josh Oliver, being able to handle the different ebbs and flows of the groups of linemen we put out there that worked well together to do some things, and then there were other games where we didn’t have the effectiveness that we want, and that’s where we’ve got to continue to look at
that, both personnel-based and also scheme-based. What do we want to hang our hat on? That’s what the run game is all about. The difference between running for 3.95 a carry and 4.25 a carry could be the difference between a lot more manageable downs, and it seems like such a small number but that’s really the difference between being in the upper half or bottom half of the league, running the football per carry and the more times you can have effectiveness, efficiency, the more opportunities you’re going to get,
more time of possession, more ball control. Your defense is resting up on the sideline, all of those things are things I constantly think about and just the different avenues of making sure we get that to a place where we completely have the well-rounded offense we want to have consistently in the top tier of this league.
Where do things stand with Justin Jefferson’s contract extension?
Adofo-Mensah: I had a great dialogue with his representation this morning. We catch up, obviously I stay in contact with all of our players’ representatives, but we had a great, great relationship, and the good part is we
have a shared history now. We did a lot of the work last season, so we talked and said, ‘Let’s plan to talk again soon.’ I’m always optimistic about those things. Obviously, we have to address that and a bunch of other things, but I’m looking forward to those conversations.
How do you weigh the year Danielle Hunter just had and him turning 30 this year?
Adofo-Mensah: I think there’s a lot of factors that go into how you’re trying to project how a player’s going to be over the life of a contract – their age – but [also] how they take care of themselves. And I would argue he’s probably in that Kirk side of things, where he’s really impactful with his sleep and what he does in the offseason, things like that. You walk by Danielle; I think you understand what I’m talking about. So, I think all those things will be considered. Look, he had a really great year. The two years I’ve been around him, obviously super productive, but the hustle, just for an elite player like that to play the strain the way he does in the run game, train the way he does, just chasing the quarterback outside the pocket, even if it’s not winning the rush initially. We had a great exit meeting. Just a great dude, a great player, and we’ll look forward to those conversations.
O’Connell: The only thing to add on that is, it was not lost on Danielle being voted a captain and kind of what that looked like – what his teammates look at him like. And I saw some tremendous growth from Danielle in that side of things, to go along with production on the field. I think that was a really part of it. You think about him and Justin Jefferson being kind of first-time captains there and what they meant to our team, and the rest of that group helped us persevere and really try to thrive through some of that adversity, for sure.
Is it fair to say these big-ticket items this offseason is going to affect this organization for the next five to ten years?
Adofo-Mensah: I would argue that I put that pressure on myself every offseason, but I think it’s of the utmost importance, I would say, to say the five to eight to 10 years probably depends on what positions you address and different things like that, but it’s an important offseason. I can’t really run from that in any kind of way. We’ll continue to battle, we’ll continue to identify where we’re lacking in terms of where we want to be and where we are now, and that’s the mindset we take. The two of us up here are the most
inward-looking people you’ll ever meet. I don’t think there’s a day we see results and we don’t ask ourselves how we can be better. That’s what I’m going to keep going, and we’ll go from there
You mentioned that as a GM, you might take some more risks. As you’re entering year three, does that maybe go into taking more risks to finish?
Adofo-Mensah: I think it was a great question asked, ‘what have you learned,’ and I think one of the things you learn as a general manager is ideas and application are obviously a little bit different, right? There’s a lot of
stakeholders involved; a lot of people involved in those things. You think about Kevin having to experience playing a quarterback with how many days, you know, on a team and things like that. I might be willing to say, ‘Hey, he’s talented. But that’s someone else who has to deal with getting him ready,’ with Chris [O’Hara] and Wes [Phillips] and all those things. Really just understanding risk/reward, but also the path to how those things actually happen. And over two years, we were joking on the bus ride home, we’ve
learned a lot over these past two years. And we’ll keep applying what we learn. I hope every year I’m fortunate enough to be up here you ask me that question and I answer you, and I’m still learning. Because that means you’re getting better and you’re staying in the job because you’re getting better and you’re achieving your goals.
