Sure seems like Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was scary close to ruining Vikings draft

The Minnesota Vikings had to find their new quarterback after it became crystal clear Kirk Cousins was leaving in free agency. To start, they signed Sam Darnold to be their QB1 heading into the NFL Draft. But with two first-round picks at their disposal, one acquired from the Houston Texans, the expectation was that they were going to acquire their quarterback of the future.

In the first round, the Vikings traded up from the No. 11 spot to No. 10 to select Michigan signal caller J.J. McCarthy. With Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and Michael Penix Jr. off the board, the urgency was there to get a quarterback before someone else would. But it appears Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had a different plan.

An article from ESPN's Kevin Seifert revealed that Adofo-Mensah had considered taking Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner with their first first-round pick, then would maneuver around the draft board for a quarterback.

"But in explaining his decisions last weekend, Adofo-Mensah made two primary points. First, he said that while "you never want to give up future picks," sometimes there is a player within reach who is too much of an "outlier." Adofo-Mensah, in fact, had briefly considered taking Turner with his first pick in the round and then circling back to maneuver for a quarterback," writes Seifert.

"Doing so, he said, would have been "all just ego." Ultimately, the Vikings stayed disciplined enough in their quarterback search to wait for McCarthy first and then poured their leftover draft capital into acquiring Turner. Accounting for the original trade in March to acquire the No. 23 overall pick, and then the deal they made with the Jacksonville Jaguars to move to No. 17, they used the equivalent of two mid-first-round picks to get Turner, according to ESPN Analytics. Their aggressiveness is especially notable in the context of the first two drafts in Adofo-Mensah's tenure, which netted only one true impact player (receiver Jordan Addison)."

Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah considered drafting Dallas Turner first over a QB

That would have been quite the decision by Adofo-Mensah, and it could have backfired. Why's that? Well there were two quarterback-needy teams right behind them in the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders.

It was no secret that the Broncos were in desperate need for a quarterback, especially after they released Russell Wilson from his lucrative contract. Their depth chart entering the first round of the draft featured Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson, and Ben DiNucci. Unless the Broncos really liked Bo Nix, which it appears they really did, the Vikings would have been taking a risk that they would take McCarthy. That, and it appears the Rams were looming for Nix as well.

Then there were the Raiders, who were doing their homework on the quarterbacks throughout the pre-draft process. There was buzz the Raiders were looking to trade up to grab Daniels if he weren't drafted by the Washington Commanders. There was also a report from James Palmer that the Raiders were one of three teams looking to trade into the Top 10 for Penix. It's unknown if the Raiders were a team that would take any quarterback left on the board when they were on the clock with the No. 13 pick. But that's still a risk.

Regardless, Adofo-Mensah didn't go that route. He traded up for McCarthy, then made a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire the No. 17 pick to select Turner. Luckily, the run on defensive players didn't begin until the 15th selection, so Adofo-Mensah's strategy did pay off in the end. They get one of the top quarterbacks and best overall players in the draft.

It will be interesting to see how the Vikings stack up next season heading into what has become a stacked NFC North division with the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Chicago Bears, all of whom improved this offseason.s