Getty Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (R) and Kevin O'Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.
The amount of possibilities of how the Minnesota Vikings‘ draft could play out has no limits — but KSTP’s Darren Wolfson has shown certainty about the team’s plans.
Based on the homework the Vikings have done pre-draft and their hopes of selecting a quarterback in this year’s draft dating back to the new regime entering the building two years ago, Wolfson is confident the Vikings are aggressive and trade up for one of the top quarterbacks.
“I’ll die on this hill, that my stance from a few weeks ago isn’t changing, regardless of what comes out the next couple weeks. My understanding is the Vikings would be plenty happy with any of Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy. I really think it’ll be one of those three,” Wolfson said on an April 11 appearance on SKOR North’s “Mackey and Judd” podcast.
Vikings Comfortable Taking QB4 in the NFL Draft
Getty2024 NFL Draft quarterback prospects Drake Maye of North Carolina (left), Jayden Daniels of LSU (middle) and J.J. McCarthy of Michigan (right)fiden
While there is some concern about whether the Vikings can convince the New England Patriots to trade the No. 3 pick away, Wolfson said that unless there’s a change in how the Vikings feel about Daniels after over a year of scouting, he believes the Vikings will come away with a top-four quarterback in this year’s draft.
“I really believe they are going to end up with one of those three. That, whether it’s Arizona at No. 4 or the Chargers at No. 5, whichever of the three end up falling. That the Vikings will get their hands on one of those guys, that the Vikings are plenty happy with any of those three,” Wolfson added.
“Now, maybe subject to change a little bit, if I get some intel that, somehow next Thursday’s meeting with Jayden Daniels goes sideways. I don’t anticipate that happening.”
Vikings’ Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Reveals Moving on From Kirk Cousins, Drafting QB Was Always the Plan
GettyQuarterback Kirk Cousins, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings.
Two things can be true: the Vikings could be comfortable with Kirk Cousins and still want a quarterback of the future.
Cousins, entering next season at the age of 36, isn’t going to play forever. The new regime was wise to accelerate the inevitable and untie itself from the quarterback situation that got the last regime fired.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s contractual decisions reflected the new regime’s motives to move on from Cousins — signing him to a one-year extension to clear cap space for a competitive 2022 season and restructuring his contract after long-term extension talks fizzled out a year ago.
Two weeks ahead of the draft, Adofo-Mensah put words to the Vikings’ actions, stating their plans of drafting a quarterback had been in the making since they arrived in Minnesota.
“We’re going to give ourselves a great shot at it. We’ve put a lot into this over the last couple years — this isn’t a a one-year thing or a three-month thing — this is something Kevin and I really set in motion when we first got here. We’ve put a lot into it and we’ll see what happens on draft day,” Adofo-Mensah said in an April 11 news conference.