Ever since Kirk Cousins left in free agency for a monster deal with the Atlanta Falcons, it's been a strong assumption the Minnesota Vikings will target a quarterback in this year's NFL Draft. The drumbeat of that suspicion got even louder when the Vikings recently traded up from the second round to land another first-round pick in a deal with the Houston Texans.
On Thursday, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah essentially acknowledged the reality of those rumors during a pre-draft press conference.
"There are multiple [quarterbacks] that we are in love with just on an outright basis," Adofo-Mensah said, via ESPN. "But there are also other guys we're in love with, given if we got them at a certain value, what they'd also be able to come with skill-set wise, if you're talking about the ability to overcome context. Well, if the guy's got less ability [to do that] but we've got assets to go get somebody that's not going to put him in that situation, those things add up, too."
Armed with picks No. 11 and No. 23 in the first round, the Vikings have the ammo to go and trade up for one of the top three or four quarterbacks in the draft (Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, J.J. McCarthy), if any of the teams currently slated to pick in that range are willing to move down. But if they can't find an agreeable deal, they also have the opportunity to stick at those picks and take someone like Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr., if they feel the value is there. And if it is, Adofo-Mensah is seemingly confirming that they'd do just that.
Adofo-Mensah has been one of the busiest wheelers and dealers around draft time during his two-plus-year tenure with the Vikings, making all kinds of moves up and down the board. He acknowledged that there is risk involved with draft-pick trades, but also said, "just because something's risky doesn't mean you have to stay away from it."
