ESPN: Vikings Should've Made 'Bigger Commitment to Contending or Rebuilding'
In their second offseason under the Kwesi Adofo-Mensah/Kevin O'Connell regime, the Vikings ditched last year's "run it back" approach and moved on from some older, expensive veterans. Eric Kendricks, Adam Thielen, Patrick Peterson, Za'Darius Smith, and Dalvin Tomlinson are all gone from the 2022 team that won 13 games despite a negative point differential.
Still, the Vikings continued to live both worlds this offseason, trying to strike the right balance in what they've called a "competitive rebuild." Even as they got younger and turned eyes towards the future, they also believe they can defend their NFC North crown in 2023.
In ranking the Vikings' offseason 20th out of the league's 32 teams, ESPN's Bill Barnwell said the team should've made a bigger commitment one way or another.
What went wrong: The Vikings didn't make a bigger commitment to contending or rebuilding. Given a difficult cap situation, it's tough to feel as if they have a great handle on what sort of team they're going to be in 2023 and 2024, given that they just won 13 games while being outscored by their opposition. They moved on from Kendricks and Thielen but held on to Harrison Smith. They were willing to keep (Za'Darius) Smith and (Dalvin) Cook on the roster into May when that cap space and cash could have been budgeted elsewhere in March.
Barnwell also praised the Vikings' hire of Brian Flores and the addition of Byron Murphy Jr. in the secondary, questioned the one-year deal for Marcus Davenport — "not a bad move in a vacuum, but it's neither a great short-term call nor any sort of a long-term upgrade" — and pointed out that no decision was made at quarterback this spring.
The broad point that the Vikings didn't either go all-in or tear things down further is a fair one. Then again, almost every team in the league exists in the middle ground between those two extremes.
This excellent story from SI's Albert Breer dives into that very concept by looking at the approach Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell are taking with their plan for the franchise. Among other things, it explains O'Connell's belief that last season's 13 wins — aided by players like Thielen and Kendricks and Peterson — set a foundation for what he wants to build moving forward. There's a lot of great stuff in Breer's piece, which I recommend reading.
Multiple things can be true. Barnwell's point that the Vikings are still perhaps in the purgatory between contending and rebuilding is valid; they may need to decide to truly commit to one direction or the other in the next couple years. At the same time, the Vikings are far from the only team in that boat, and Breer's story helps explain the vision their leadership has for building off of last season.
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