With Jordan Addison the Vikings have built a monster setup for their next QB
The Minnesota Vikings walked out of Round 1 of the 2023 NFL Draft without an answer to the franchise’s biggest question: Who’s the next quarterback after Kirk Cousins?
But they did answer something very important: How can we make the next quarterback’s life as easy as possible?
The Vikings picked USC receiver Jordan Addison, a route-running craftsman who racked up 159 receptions and 25 touchdowns over the last two seasons.
“I think he's really sudden in and out of cuts, so we always talk about kind of a guy getting the first blade of grass on movement, and he's one of those guys that typically gets the first blade of grass,” Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said of Addison. “This guy is consistently open.”
While nothing is a sure thing in the draft, the Vikings made a pretty good bet with a technically sound player who was highly productive in college at two major programs.
“Kevin [O’Connell] has a phrase that he likes to use a lot: ‘It’s natural to him,’ when you watch a player and you can tell football just makes sense to him and Jordan is somebody who does that,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Separation, sense in space, different things that, it’s natural to him. Really good football player.”
If he works out, Kevin O’Connell’s offense projects in 2024 to have two elite tackles, a top-five tight end (if TJ Hockenson signs an extension), the best receiver on earth, a versatile man-coverage buster in Addison and a proven quality receiver in KJ Osborn (if he does not leave in free agency).
Whether it’s Trey Lance, Draft Pick X or Cousins signs an extension, that’s a group that can rival the stockpile of weapons that the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles are running out. In a league that sends top-five offenses to the Super Bowl every year, the Vikings put their draft capital in the right place to make a jump from good to great in terms of yearly scoring total.
They also followed the numbers when it comes to surplus value. You could argue that the Vikings already have a No. 1 receiver so putting more draft capital into the position is redundant but No. 2 receivers like Dionte Johnson, Chris Godwin and Christian Kirk are making between $18-$21 million per season. Addison on a rookie contract at a highly-paid position can help balance the books as Jefferson, Hockenson and Darrisaw are getting their mega contracts.
The broadcast showed Adofo-Mensah on the phone during the lead up to the pick but the Vikings elected to stay at No. 23 rather than moving down and acquiring more draft capital. The reasoning: They wanted Addison and did not want to risk losing "an impact player at a premium position."
Adofo-Mensah said it was the versatility of Addison’s game that put them over the top.
“One of the reasons we loved him so much is the inside-outside flex, he can win on the outside and he can win on the inside,” the Vikings GM said. “There’s a couple players in this draft that you feel like at birth were supposed to do the things that they’re going to get paid to do in the NFL and he’s one of them.”
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein compared Addison to Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett in his draft profile, writing:
“Inside/outside wideout with the speed and agility to work confidently on all three levels of the field, but lacking the size and catch strength generally associated with high-impact performers on the next level. Addison’s route running features acceleration, dynamic steering and sudden turns at a moment’s notice. While he can get to the spot effectively, he has trouble consistently winning battles when he has coverage company beside him. While Addison failed to make the same impact he did in 2021, his usage at Pitt might be a better indicator of the type of role and production he could be capable of on the next level.”
Hey, didn’t Lockett play a pretty big role in Russell Wilson’s greatness and the emergence of Geno Smith?
PFF compared Addison to Emmanuel Sanders. Hey, didn’t Sanders play a key role in keeping the careers of Peyton Manning and Drew Brees alive as a No. 2 option? Didn’t he help the Bills to the AFC title game alongside Stefon Diggs?
“It's somebody who can separate the way he does on the other side [of Justin Jefferson], that brings a certain match-up issue to other teams,” Adofo-Mensah said.
If Addison becomes anything like those players, the Vikings’ offense is going to be a golden throne for the next QB to inherit.
It turns out that the next QB, however, is not Will Levis or Hendon Hooker as the Mock Draft Community pushed throughout the process. Both quarterbacks sat through the entire night watching teams like the Falcons, Commanders and Vikings — all QB needy — pass on them.
It’s clear the NFL did not believe in Levis’s raw talent or Hooker’s deep accuracy as much as the prognosticators thought. The Vikings’ brass said in the lead up to the draft that they would only pick someone that everyone agreed upon and it always seemed unlikely that controversial prospects with either accuracy issues or age/ACL concerns were going to be taken by a team seeking consensus.
It’s impossible to criticize the Vikings for not picking QBs who the entire NFL agreed were not first-round prospects but it does leave them with the QB question lingering over their head. Will they try to acquire a project quarterback in the middle rounds and see if they can land the next Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson or Dak Prescott?
"You've got to bet on your ability, if you take it outside of [the top of Round 1] to identify, develop." Adofo-Mensah said. "We know that's the most important position. We have an incredibly good one right now and we'll see what happens after that."
Usually the argument for drafting mid-round quarterback prospects isn’t very sound. They almost always fail. But the Vikings may believe that the supporting cast is so great that a Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Tanner McKee, Clayton Tune or Jake Haener type might have a chance to thrive when given a chance to sit for a year and then toss the ball to open receivers.
Even with all the logic behind the Addison pick, it can’t be forgotten that the Vikings had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season and elected not to pick a player on that side of the ball. What now? Multiple picks in the middle/late rounds? Create cap space with players they haven’t traded yet i.e. Za’Darius Smith and Dalvin Cook to sign remaining free agents? Let it ride and see if Brian Flores is the answer?
Adofo-Mensah would only go as far as saying that they considered every position. Now they will have to give a little more consideration to the positions that got left behind on Day 1.
But the Vikings invested more in the area of the game that drives teams to the Super Bowl. They increased their odds of making their future QB decision — even if it’s extending Cousins — a successful one. They found a partner for Jefferson and replaced a player in Thielen who made their passing game strong for a long time. And they took a shot on the things that often translate, in particular the ability to create separation.
Aside from somehow landing one of the three first-round quarterbacks, there wasn’t another outcome that would have been better for the Vikings on draft night.
