Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah refused to shut the door on Aaron Rodgers and what he really meant is written between the lines
The rumors about the Minnesota Vikings and quarterback Aaron Rodgers have been circulating for weeks and weeks. In fact, you could argue that it's been happening for the last couple of years since Rodgers made his way to the New York Jets via trade, just like the quarterback he succeeded Brett Favre did. The rumors […]
The rumors about the Minnesota Vikings and quarterback Aaron Rodgers have been circulating for weeks and weeks. In fact, you could argue that it's been happening for the last couple of years since Rodgers made his way to the New York Jets via trade, just like the quarterback he succeeded Brett Favre did.
The rumors and reporting about Rodgers have always felt weird in real-time because of what the Vikings have in the building. What became interesting was how general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah answered the question during his press conference on Wednesday.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah doesn't shut the door on Aaron Rodgers
The story you are going to hear all day on Wednesday is that Adofo-Mensah didn't say that Rodgers wouldn't be the guy.
Let's start here. Adofo-Mensah was first asked about J.J. McCarthy's comments about not being told he was QB1.
"You guys all talk in terms of QB1 and all those conversations, different things like that. You know, when we pull the resources we did to draft JJ, you go through that long process all those things, I can't stand up and say that's not the outcome we want, and that's our outcome we're headed towards at every checkpoint, whether it's in the draft process or practice until the injury or really the off season. Now he's met the bar. He's exceed our expectations at every point.
"And so I don't have the ability to tell you what the future is, but I can tell you what I expect to be the outcome this offseason from the competition, but it's also our job to set up a quarterback room that's going to be able to meet, have great ideas and prepare whoever it is to play. But also provide insurance in case somebody needs to come in for a couple of games. And that's our job as a personnel department to look at all the options out there and make sure we're setting ourselves up the best case we can."
It's not a surprise that the Vikings haven't told him that he's going to be the guy. That's not exactly how they operate. He will earn the job and there won't be a discussion about this at all.
However much we want to deny it, the Rodgers interest was real and Adofo-Mensah admitted as such, even going as far to say that head coach Kevin O'Connell was the one to talk with him directly.
"So you're talking about a player that Kevin's known for a long time. And so when you have a relationship like that, I'm typically the type that's like, 'hey, whoever got the best relationship, talk to him.' And so Kev, he's a bit of a, if I'm like, the dork Elvis, maybe kids like the QB Elvis type of guy. He's got a lot of respect in that community, and he deserves it for really great reasons, not just for the for that you know, what he brings from a schematic standpoint, but just how he cares about players there. Cares about people. He cares about, you know, a lot of times the environments around quarterbacks aren't really supportive to quarterbacks. And so for that reason, he's got a great relationship with a lot of these guys, and he's got a great relationship with Aaron. They've had a lot of conversations. Obviously, he looped us in, and then we kind of met, and go from there. It's, it's a new thing to talk about a player in that caliber, you know. And I'm always somebody who wants to learn and then grow myself. And so, you know, just being involved in those, those dialog was, was really special."
Adofo-Mensah has been on the job for a long time and we get a lot of political answers from him and this is just another one from the lead decision-maker. However political this answer was, this was also an honest admission about how they went about the discussion with Rodgers.
ESPN's Kevin Seifert was the one to ask point blank if he was still an option. Adofo-Mensah gave another vague answer, which is par for the course.
"Right now, you know, given all our scenario planning, we're happy with our room. And you know, obviously we're going to talk a lot about agent McCarthy, but Brett Rypien, who something we brought in last off season, we thought made a lot of great decisions quick positioning processing, and people give credit for accurate passers, so we're excited about him, and we're always going to keep looking to see if we can upgrade that position, just like every other position."
What some will take from these quotes is that the door is open to bring in Rodgers as the starting quarterback. In fact, that's likely what the national media will run with because it's what will draw eyeballs.
What you should take from this is simple: Adofo-Mensah is never going to completely shut the door on something because situations can change due to circumstance. If McCarthy gets hurt again, the Vikings could completely change course. However, just because they are willing to change their minds with changing circumstances doesn't mean the Vikings want to bring in Rodgers.
Adofo-Mensah expanded on that later on in the press conference when he was asked point blank if the door was closed.
I think that I said that given where we are scenario wise, we didn't think it was the right move at this time. It's also his decision whether he signed with another team or not. That's ultimately up to another player. For me to sit here and say that, you know, anything's 100% forever. That's just not the job, right? We're responding to scenarios and different information as it comes so, you know, obviously things can change. But right now, we're really happy with our room and where we look to upgrade it in different ways. But from now, we're really excited."
Essentially, this entire thing was a long-winded answer from Adofo-Mensah saying they won't bring him in now, but they could if circumstances change. As Adofo-Mensah said, things change.
ESPN’s First Take unfairly trashes J.J. McCarthy after once again misunderstanding the Minnesota Vikings
The whole situation is just exhausting
