The Minnesota Vikings won’t only equal their 2022 regular-season loss total if they fall on Sunday in Carolina, but the drop to 0-4 will increase the calls from a frustrated fan base for the team to begin selling off veterans and begin actively tanking in order to try to get quarterback Caleb Williams with the top pick in next spring’s NFL draft.
In theory, this sounds like a good idea given how difficult it would be to make the playoffs at that point. So why not get quarterback Kirk Cousins to waive his no-trade clause, deal him before the Oct. 31 NFL trade deadline, make backup Nick Mullens the starter and watch the losses pile up?
Buy Vikings TicketsGet pass-rusher Danielle Hunter to waive his no-trade clause as well — both he and Cousins are in the last year of their contracts — and why not send safety Harrison Smith packing? Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah comes from a Wall Street background and knows all about when it’s a good time to deal off assets and that time might be nearing.
Williams, who could elect to remain at USC but almost certainly will enter the draft, is considered the most talented quarterback in a class with several quality prospects. The Vikings haven’t developed anyone close to a franchise QB since Daunte Culpepper and the only long-term franchise QB in the team’s history was Fran Tarkenton.
The idea of spending one season winning as few games as possible — players don’t tank, but stripping the roster leads to losses — in order to select a potential star quarterback who spends his first five seasons on a rookie contract is a formula that has worked for others.
So is there any chance Adofo-Mensah would take the short-term pain for the long-term payoff? That depends on what his bosses say and the guess here is that Adofo-Mensah would have to make a very convincing argument to get owners Zygi and Mark Wilf to agree to this idea.
Since the Wilfs bought the Vikings in 2005, the team has finished above .500 nine times, below .500 seven times and at .500 twice. The Vikings’ worst season came under coach Leslie Frazier, who went 3-13 in 2011. Other than that the Vikings never have been more than five games under .500.
The most recent example of the Vikings being unwilling to give up on a season came in 2020, when they started 1-5 and then traded defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to the Ravens during their bye week. Ngakoue’s departure led to speculation that general manager Rick Spielman was just getting started on a tear down that would include several veterans and assure no more than three or four wins.
That never happened and the Vikings returned from the bye to win three consecutive NFC North games and finished 7-9. Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer are gone, so maybe Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell will have a different approach but the Wilfs’ desire to always be competitive can’t be dismissed. The mandate to win as many games as possible almost certainly led Adofo-Mensah to coin the term “competitive rebuild.”
There will be some who are afraid if Cousins agrees to be dealt for a day one or two draft pick that star wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who still hasn’t gotten his contract extension done, will be upset and more likely to play out his contract and leave. But that seems unlikely to be Jefferson’s move if the Vikings are able to land a top young quarterback whom he can forge a partnership with that will last several seasons.
The Vikings will enter Sunday as one of four NFL teams that are winless. That list includes the Broncos, Bears and Minnesota’s next opponent, the Panthers. The Bears, who also reside in the NFC North, are a mess for a second consecutive season and, if they again finish with the first pick, they almost certainly will take Williams to replace Justin Fields.
That means instead of having Williams in purple, the Vikings would have to face him for many years to come. Could this cause the Wilfs to give Adofo-Mensah the go-ahead to start a fire sale? Given the Wilfs’ history as owners, that seems unlikely, but if the Vikings fall to 0-4, it’s at least worth considering.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com
