Vikings GM Gives Updates on Patrick Peterson, Anthony Barr, Danielle Hunter
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spoke to reporters on Wednesday amid his first offseason as the Vikings' general manager. It's still early in the process, but he's made some major decisions already by extending Kirk Cousins and signing Za'Darius Smith and two other defensive starters.
My big takeaway from Adofo-Mensah's press conference was about how he described the team's approach as a "competitive rebuild" and "living in today and tomorrow" — something that the Vikings' previous GM, Rick Spielman, took a lot of criticism for. Check out that link for a deep dive into his comments on that front.
Adofo-Mensah also provided some updates on specific Vikings players, including one of the team's stars and a couple free agents.
The Vikings converted Danielle Hunter's $18 million roster bonus into signing bonus money on Tuesday in order to lower his cap hit and fit Smith into the picture. The 27-year-old defensive end is coming off of two injury-plagued seasons but remains one of the most talented players on the roster when healthy.
"We feel great where we are with Danielle," Adofo-Mensah said. "Obviously that roster bonus was a call to come to the table and get in conversation, dialogue, and we had great conversation with Danielle, his representation Zeke [Sandhu], all the members of this organization, and I can say we're all in a great place. He called me from vacation the other day, and the second you get off the phone with a player like that, you understand why he's a great player. You can hear the urgency, the motivation in his voice to kind of resume where he is as one of the elite players in this league."
For now, Hunter is only under contract for two more seasons. But it sounds like a long-term extension is something the Vikings will be exploring going forward.
"He's a really great player, so you don't just move on from great players very easily," Adofo-Mensah said. "He's someone that's been in this league for awhile, produced at a really high level. ... He's somebody we're excited to have back in the fold and every option is on the table. He's a great player so he's somebody that you always want to consider bringing back under contract."
As for the two most prominent Vikings free agents, both Patrick Peterson and Anthony Barr remain unsigned at the moment.
Peterson has said on numerous occasions that he'd love to be back with the Vikings, and Minnesota needs cornerback help. But it'll come down to whether or not it works under the salary cap.
"He texted me the other day," Adofo-Mensah said. "Pat Pete's a great person, a great player in this league for a long time. I was in his division and that was always a tough day going against him. Again, we're trying to be solutions-oriented about everything we do here. You want to make sure you respect a player of his caliber, his expertise in this league, but also the reality of the situation we're in from a salary cap standpoint. Again, those conversations are ongoing and we're trying to work through those problems as we can."
A Barr reunion seems a lot less likely, especially now that Smith is in the fold. Barr already has a dead cap hit of $10.8 million on the Vikings' books this year, and it seems unlikely that they'll pay him on top of that after signing a couple linebackers in Smith and ILB Jordan Hicks.
"That’s going to be a tougher situation to navigate," Adofo-Mensah said. "Never say never. Obviously there are things salary cap-related with acceleration and things like that that made that kind of a challenging deal. ... Ultimately it’s my job, Kevin [O'Connell]’s job, Rob [Brzezinski]’s job, everybody in this organization to make smart decisions, but there is an emotional side of things. There is a relationship element to this business. Those decisions can be tough, but ultimately, sometimes they just have to be made."
That sounds pretty clear.
The Vikings almost certainly aren't done adding, though. They can create more cap space with some additional restructures, which would open up room to add a cornerback or an offensive lineman or someone else. They're in the mix for Bills RFA guard Ryan Bates, along with the Patriots, Bears, and Bills.
“We’re going to keep being solutions-oriented, selective patience," Adofo-Mensah said. "If the value meets the player, meets all those things, we will strike. And if it doesn’t, we won’t."
"As we enter this second wave of free agency, we’ll continue to be selective and patient. But we’re always looking for opportunities to improve this team."
The NFL draft is suddenly just a little over a month away, so that will begin to take center stage soon as well.
Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis all offseason long. Also, follow me on Twitter and feel free to ask me any questions on there.
