The Minnesota Vikings have obviously made some mistakes in the last 63 years. Bringing Herschel Walker to Skol Nation surely didn’t work out; essentially trading Randy Moss for Troy Williamson was just as bad, and passing on Lamar Jackson for Mike Hughes was just a more recent catastrophic decision, at least in hindsight.
ESPN Identifies Worst Vikings Mistake of the Last 5 Years
In the last five seasons, the Vikings have moved on from the previous regime led by Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell. Both of these groups were in the spotlight in ESPN’s recent list of the worst mistakes for any franchise in the past five years.
Minnesota ranks 17th. The winner is…the 2022 draft class or, as Bill Barnwell wrote, “Failing to land any useful players on Days 1 and 2 of the draft (2022).”
Although the analyst praised Adofo-Mensah for finding some gems in free agency and adding Jordan Addison in the 2023 draft, it’s hard to forget the 2022 class.
Barnwell wrote: “Adofo-Mensah made a pair of trades within the NFC North, moving down in deals that landed the Lions’ Jameson Williams and the Packers’ Christian Watson. I won’t take issue with those trades, given what advanced draft charts suggest about the moves — and it shouldn’t matter which prospect those teams select in justifying the deal for Adofo-Mensah — but he has to nail some of his picks if he’s going to make any draft philosophy work.”
The trades drew some criticism at the time, and perhaps he should’ve gotten a better return from the division rivals, but the strategy of adding more draft picks made sense for a team with a bunch of needs. What made the draft unsuccessful was the players he selected in the process.
“The Vikings went 0-for-4. Their first pick, safety Lewis Cine, played just two defensive snaps in four games before suffering a career-altering leg injury on special teams,” Barnwell emphasized. “He should be applauded for making it back to the league, but he played just eight more defensive snaps for the Vikings before joining the Bills, where he made his debut on special teams last week.”
Indeed, Cine’s pick didn’t work out. To some extent, the injury played a role, as he might have lost a step, and it cost him valuable development time. In addition to that, the Vikings swapped defensive coordinators, and the scheme for which he was drafted suddenly vanished.
However, Cine’s slow reaction time in the following preseason was alarming, injury or not. The tackling form was another issue, but the lack of reps didn’t help fix that. And then, well, he faced tough competition, to say the least, with Cam Bynum, Harrison Smith, and Josh Metellus.
But the draft didn’t stop there: “Maybe that pick could be chalked up to bad luck, but the next one was second-round corner Andrew Booth Jr., who spent most of the year on the bench before tearing his meniscus,” Barnwell added. “Defensive coordinator Brian Flores didn’t seem to value Booth, who was traded to the Cowboys after his second season. Fellow second-rounder Ed Ingram started for two-plus years at guard, but he was a consistent liability on the line before being benched last month.
Booth never lived up to the expectations. Numerous injuries forced him to sit out most of his rookie season, and in year two, he was stuck behind the shaky starting cornerbacks. The trade that sent him to Dallas gave the Vikings practice squad CB Nashon Wright.
Ed Ingram started for two-and-a-half seasons, but his play barely improved, and the projected jump hasn’t happened. The Vikings turned to Dalton Risner to solidify the right guard spot. It remains to be seen whether he will get another chance or if his time in the Twin Cities is over.
Barnwell concluded: “And Brian Asamoah, the team’s third-round pick, has played just 188 defensive snaps over three seasons, including 33 this season. That’s four top-70 picks and one player who even had a shot at starting duties over the past three seasons, and even he was one of the worst regulars at his position. Thankfully, Adofo-Mensah has made enough smart decisions elsewhere to overcome a rough start during his time in charge in Minnesota.”
Brian Asamoah showed flashes in his debut season but didn’t get a chance under Brian Flores. The emergence of Ivan Pace tied him to the bench. However, he has been a solid special teams contributor.
At the end of the day, the draft was a disaster, and Vikings fans keep bringing it up. The good news is, though, that Adofo-Mensah has still found a way to build a good roster that allows the club to compete for the NFC North title with a 12-2 record.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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