Minnesota Vikings first-year general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was “frank” about the team’s quarterback situation during an interview with USA TODAY Sports’ Jori Epstein.
Perhaps he was a little too frank.
“I’ll be frank. The one asset where you get nervous about not burning it down is quarterback,” said Adofo-Mensah.
The GM spoke on the decision to keep quarterback Kirk Cousins under contract to give the Vikings a better shot at competing for a Super Bowl.
And yet, coming from an analytical background, Adofo-Mensah knows the odds lean in favor of teams with an elite quarterback under center. He went as far as calling Cousins a “good quarterback.” But he did note, via Epstein, “we don’t have Tom Brady.” “We don’t have Pat[rick] Mahomes.”
“[The Super Bowl] is more likely to win if you have that quarterback,” said Adofo-Mensah. “It’s very unlikely to have that quarterback.”
Adofo-Mensah obviously didn’t mean these comments as a direct jab at Cousins, but it was a scathing evaluation with a lot of truth to it. Cousins is a very good quarterback, but he hasn’t yet proven he can step up his game to be considered one of the elite players at his position.
It’s a quarterback league, and the teams with the best quarterbacks are always going to have a better crack at getting to the big dance. The Vikings could simply look within their own division for proof. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have won the division for the last three consecutive seasons.
But then again, Adofo-Mensah hitched the team to Cousins through 2023 with an add-on year and a no-trade clause in the contract. The truth is most teams don’t have a Brady or a Mahomes on their roster. Most teams would be happy to even have a Cousins.
And who’s to say the Vikings quarterback won’t take that next step in 2022 under first-year head coach Kevin O’Connell?
Guys like Cousins are hard to find, but players like Brady and Mahomes are next to impossible. Sometimes, it’s better to appreciate what you have.
