Vikings at the NFL combine: What I heard about their offseason plans

They were all there.

The Minnesota Vikings coaches huddled in the lobby of the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. One afternoon, a group of the team’s top executives, including general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, conversed on one of the top floors of the same hotel. Discussions about salary-cap strategies, difficult roster decisions and player interviews were all on tap.

The time at the NFL Scouting Combine set the stage for what will be a busy next two weeks. First, the Vikings brass must eliminate the team’s salary-cap deficit. Then, the team must plan for free agency. All the while, it will be finalizing its plans for the draft at the end of April.

Clues about each individual plan emerged throughout the week. Here are some things I heard, beginning with the quarterback, with all of the unnamed sources in this story granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

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The Vikings’ decision-makers believe in quarterback Kirk Cousins. They do not take his accuracy, durability or persistence for granted. Nor are they naive about the fact that Cousins has not operated the same system with the same play caller in consecutive years in more than a half-decade.

“There’s a reason why I feel so strongly about Kirk,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “I’ve been very honest about that. I believe in him as a player and was really proud of the way he played this year.”

But how much does he believe in his quarterback, especially in the long term? We may get an answer to that question in the next 10 days.

Cousins’ roster bonus kicks in on March 17. He remains under contract only through the 2023 season. Serious belief would be committing to Cousins for multiple years. Middling belief would be a short-term extension or even allowing Cousins to ride out his current contract. Last week, Adofo-Mensah seemed to lean toward the latter.

“We want flexibility,” the general manager said.

Beyond quarterback, the position group that could cause the most seismic shift in the year-over-year outlook for the Vikings is edge rusher.

Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter are both entering the final years of their contracts. Both players ranked in the top 10 in pressures in 2022. Moreover, both players tallied those pressures primarily on four-man rushes without stunts or games.

Both players have been immensely valuable. And right now, neither Smith’s nor Hunter’s 2023 salary ranks in the top 20 among NFL edge rushers. This explains the Vikings’ dilemma: Extend each player for equitable value or problems may ensue.

The Vikings must consider multiple factors as they weigh whether or not to offer extensions, including age, injury history and systematic fit.

Smith is 31, while Hunter is 28. Smith has navigated numerous injuries in the past couple of years. Hunter, meanwhile, suffered a torn pectoral muscle in 2021 but did not miss a game this past season. Systematically, Smith may be more versatile on the interior. Hunter, though, might be more dangerous, swooping around from the outside.

These are some of the key considerations for a defense in need of a revamp. Remove one of these pass rushers, and Minnesota will need replacements beyond D.J. Wonnum and Patrick Jones II. Speaking of which …

The Vikings have met with at least one defensive lineman, according to a person briefed on the matter. One name who surfaced, Calijah Kancey, is indicative of their need, even if there are questions about his early-down fit against the run.

Kancey, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighed in at 281 pounds, recorded 7.5 sacks this past season at Pittsburgh and was the program’s first unanimous All-American since Aaron Donald in 2013.

Playing in Pat Narduzzi’s 4-3 defense, which consists mostly of four-down fronts, Kancey wiggled his way into gaps and often beelined into the backfield. His straight-line speed showed up in Indianapolis, as he ran a 4.67 40-yard dash, which at the time was the fastest by a defensive tackle at the combine since 2006. Questions exist about Kancey’s length, but a person with knowledge of the team’s process said the Vikings were impressed by Kancey’s aptitude.

Pitt's Calijah Kancey posted a 4.67-second 40-yard dash on Thursday at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, the best time for a defensive tackle at the event since 2003, per Next Gen Stats.https://t.co/sCeKma1Ee2 pic.twitter.com/vb7spG27cO

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) March 4, 2023

Still, there are other similarly sized pass-rushing options available in this year’s draft. Adetomiwa Adebawore, a Northwestern product, posted eye-popping numbers that compare to Kancey’s. Another explosive talent, Nolan Smith, wowed evaluators. Evident, at minimum, is the Vikings’ awareness that they need athleticism on the defensive interior. That’s why they pushed back the void date of Dalvin Tomlinson’s contract. Whether Minnesota chooses to supplement the position group with multiple players with different skill sets — or a player of Kancey’s caliber — is an option to circle back on.

Minnesota is inching closer to finalizing its coaching staff for 2023.

First, note the announced departures: defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, who was fired; inside linebackers coach Greg Manusky, who was fired; assistant special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica, who was hired by the Denver Broncos to be their special teams coordinator; assistant quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson, whom DeMeco Ryans hired as the QBs coach in Houston; and assistant defensive line coach A’Lique Terry, whom Oregon hired as its offensive line coach.

O’Connell also confirmed last week that Sam Siefkes, who was highly regarded inside the building, exited his post as assistant linebackers coach to become Jonathan Gannon’s linebackers coach in Arizona.

Arriving in Minnesota was Brian Flores, the new defensive coordinator; inside linebackers coach Mike Siravo, who has experience in a more man-heavy system; and defensive quality control coach Lance Bennett, who has experience working alongside Flores. Grant Udinski, who last season worked as an assistant to O’Connell, was elevated to assistant quarterbacks coach.

The Vikings also made two additional hires last week, according to two people briefed on the matter. Patrick Hill, who was recently hired at Colorado as Deion Sanders’ defensive line coach, was plucked to be the Vikings’ assistant defensive line coach. And Dalmin Gibson, who most recently coached special teams at Southern Illinois, was tabbed as the Vikings’ assistant special teams coordinator.

O’Connell wants Flores to find the correct blend of aggression and disguise.

This, it became clear through numerous conversations in Indianapolis, was the primary issue with Donatell. Coverage rotations did not confuse quarterbacks, and Donatell blitzed at one of the lowest rates in the NFL.

O’Connell is also well aware that Flores’ defense will be entirely different than Donatell’s. While Donatell’s pre-snap aesthetic was a two-high safety structure, Flores will often walk down numerous second- and third-level defenders on the line of scrimmage. Sometimes, Flores will blitz them all. Other times, he’ll drop them all.

“You’re still disguising,” O’Connell said. “You’re just not doing it from a shell.”

That’s not to say they wouldn’t sprinkle in some two-high safety shell looks, especially as time passes. To achieve their goals, O’Connell said that the overall defensive approach is to introduce an inventory of strategies to their players that they can tinker with as players familiarize themselves with it.

Before Adofo-Mensah became the Vikings’ general manager, he knew one member of the team’s analytics department: Chris French.

French, a University of Michigan graduate with the title of “football quantitative methods analyst,” had interviewed with the Cleveland Browns when Adofo-Mensah was with them.

“He’s super talented,” Adofo-Mensah said.

Quickly, Adofo-Mensah acquainted himself with two additional staffers within that department, Scott Kuhn and Rex Johnson, respectively the team’s director of football quantitative methods and football quantitative methods manager. Adofo-Mensah also hired Demitrius Washington, who had been a fixture in the San Francisco 49ers’ research and development department.

The group’s job is hard, Adofo-Mensah said, because he’s attentive to their work considering his own Wall Street and R&D background.

“Everything they do is that important,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Every assumption they make could be the reason why something is good or bad. I need that urgency, and I will push and I will pry because I know that area very well.”

(Photo of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)