The Chicago Bears weren’t the only NFC North team to clean house at the top this offseason. Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer, together since 2014, were both ousted after another disappointing finish in 2021. This bred optimism among fans. The team still had a good roster. With fresh faces bringing new ideas, this team could finally take a step towards competing for a Super Bowl.
In reality, it doesn’t feel like things are going too well. At least on paper. It started off on the wrong foot when Ryan Poles, the Kansas City Chiefs director of player personnel and the Vikings’ preferred GM target, got swiped by the Bears instead. This forced them to opt for their backup option, Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. People were intrigued. He represented the new wave of NFL player evaluation. A pure analytics guy. Everything he does is based on numbers.
This could end up being a considerable advantage for Minnesota. But also a huge risk.
Part of the concern with Adofo-Mensah was his youth. He only started working in the NFL in 2013. It is fair to wonder if he has the experience and connections necessary to build a thriving organization. His first big move was picking Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell as the next head coach. L.A. is currently in the Super Bowl. O’Connell is an understudy of Sean McVay, who has already produced several successful head coaches such as Zac Taylor and Matt Lafleur. Fair enough.
Things are starting to get a bit worrying about their more recent hires. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, expectations are that Minnesota will hire Ed Donatell as the team’s new defensive coordinator. Now Donatell has been a great secondary coach for a long time, but his track record as a coordinator is somewhat less encouraging. In the seven seasons where he called plays between Green Bay and Atlanta, Donatell’s defense never cracked the top 10 once.
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Ed Donatell has emerged as the favorite or the Vikings defensive coordinator position, sources tell @DanGrazianoESPN and me. Seattle – which was hiring him as a defensive assistant – is now bracing to lose him. New coach Kevin O’Connell getting plenty of experience on defense.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) February 9, 2022
Biggest red flag yet for Minnesota Vikings is Ryan Grigson
The news came down the same day as Donatell that the team hired the former Indianapolis Colts GM. Most casual fans won’t understand what this means until digging into Grigson’s background. During his stint running the Colts, he became known for two things. Drafting Andrew Luck with his first pick and then failing spectacularly to build around him over the next five seasons. It was almost comical some of the mistakes he made.
- Trading a 1st round pick for Trent Richardson
- Drafting Bjoern Werner in the 1st round
- Drafting Phillip Dorsett in the 1st round
- Handing $35 million to Gosder Cherilus
- A four-year extension for $29.4 million to Dwayne Allen
The #Vikings are hiring Ryan Grigson for a senior role in the football personnel department, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. The former #Colts GM has served as a personnel exec for the #Browns (alongside Kwesi Adolfo-Mensah) and #Seahawks since his five-year stint in Indy.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 9, 2022
That doesn’t even include his two-year stint in Seattle as a consultant.
Two years that led to some of the worst drafting that the organization has done in a long time. The bottom line is the Minnesota Vikings opted to give this man substantial sway in their reconfigured front office. All despite his dubious track record. Maybe it will all work out for them. However, there are a lot of “ifs” becoming involved with this process. History says that rarely ends well.
