The Vikings Have Been Building Towards This QB Decision for Two Years

This is a monumental night for the Minnesota Vikings and their leadership.

Dec 10, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight is one of the biggest nights in the recent history of the Minnesota Vikings.

For over two years, everything has been building towards the decision that awaits GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday evening. Barring something shocking, they're going to pick one of five quarterbacks, marking the first time since 2014 that the Vikings have drafted a QB in the first round — and potentially the first time they've ever drafted one with a top-ten pick. Everything is set up for a rookie QB to join this franchise and have success, from the coaching staff to a core group of offensive players that might be the league's best. Now they just need to pick the right quarterback. If they do that, they'll be closer to legitimate Super Bowl contention than they've been in a long time.

When Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell were hired as Minnesota's new regime in 2022, they set out to prepare for both the present and the future. They signed Kirk Cousins to a one-year extension through the 2023 season, securing their starting quarterback for the next two years. At the same time, they were already beginning to think about the QBs who were likely to be options in the next few drafts, knowing that Cousins wasn't necessarily going to be their long-term solution.

In year one, the Vikings essentially ran it back with the same roster that had disappointed in the final year of the Rick Spielman/Mike Zimmer era. Adofo-Mensah famously described the approach as a "competitive rebuild," a term he has since tried to distance himself from. That year, the Vikings managed to go 13-4 despite a negative point differential. It was an incredibly fun season that saw this regime establish their culture and ultimately realize, after a first-round playoff loss to the Giants, that they weren't close to reaching a championship level.

Last offseason, the Vikings leaned more into the rebuild portion of things in order to fix their future salary cap situation and give themselves flexibility. They chose not to commit to another extension for Cousins, who wanted multiple years of security. They parted ways with expensive, beloved veterans like Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, and Dalvin Cook. And while they had interest in top quarterback prospects Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, and Anthony Richardson in last year's draft, the price to get from the 23rd pick into the top four was unrealistic. So they used that pick to keep building the perfect environment for a future quarterback, selecting Jordan Addison as their Thielen replacement and the centerpiece of what turned into a solid class of rookies (which was much-needed after a horrific 2022 draft).

As everyone predicted, the Vikings regressed in 2023. The potential for a good team was evident, but Justin Jefferson missed a big chunk of time due to injury and then Cousins went down with a season-ending Achilles tear at Lambeau Field in Week 8. That would be his last appearance in a Vikings uniform. The team still hung around in the playoff picture despite each of Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall making starts at QB in the second half, which is a testament to the coaching abilities of O'Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

That brings us to this offseason, where everything has led to tonight. The Vikings drew a line in the sand on their offer to Cousins in free agency, ultimately letting him leave when the Falcons came in and offered more. They signed Sam Darnold to come in as a bridge option with some upside, but Cousins' departure all but confirmed that the Vikings were going to draft a quarterback this year. If there was any doubt about that, it was eliminated when they acquired a second first-round pick in this draft to use as ammunition for a trade up — or insurance for other possibilities and scenarios.

Over the past two years, the Vikings have been paying close attention to the crop of quarterbacks that had a chance to come out in this year's draft. They've watched them play live numerous times. During this pre-draft cycle, they met with all of them at the combine and then traveled to their college campuses to put them through private workouts, which were designed to simulate what it would be like to play in their offense. They've been building towards this moment for years, not months.

"We've put a lot into this over the last couple of years," Adofo-Mensah said this month. "This isn't a one-year thing or a three-month thing. This is something Kevin and I really set in motion when we first got here."

Now it's here. The pieces are all in place. And an era-defining decision awaits.

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