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It's always interesting to think about the road not taken. Perhaps when discussing that in the context of professional football, we should be calling it the N "If" L. Right now, there is likely no one thinking about said road more than Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Sorry, I need to clarify: former Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, as he was fired by the organization on Friday. Adofo-Mensah leaves Minnesota after four years managing the football team, but he will likely be best remembered for a deal he didn't do.
Last year, the Vikings had a choice to either keep Sam Darnold or roll the dice with JJ McCarthy. Minnesota ultimately chose McCarthy over Darnold, which allowed him to wind up in Seattle where the Seahawks were more than happy to have him. At the time, the logic was... somewhat defensible. McCarthy was a top ten draft pick and teams that hit on quarterbacks playing on their relatively inexpensive rookie contracts often have great success.
However, I will argue and say it's only somewhat defensible, because what was truly the best case scenario with JJ McCarthy? That he somehow plays as great as a quarterback who threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and guided the team to 14 wins? Well, if that's the case, why not just stick with the quarterback you know can do that!? This is quite literally the classic Family Guy "boat vs mystery box" bit.
"Sam Darnold is Sam Darnold, but JJ McCarthy could be anything... he could even be as good as Sam Darnold!"
Minnesota's loss was Seattle's gain, as Sam Darnold won 14 more games for the Seahawks, won the division, and made it to the Super Bowl. It's almost perfectly the opposite end of how the Vikings' season ended last year. Both Minnesota and Seattle finished the year with 14 wins and had a winner-take-all moment for the No. 1 seed against a division rival on the road. The Vikings were blown out in Week 18 and then in the Wild Card. Meanwhile the Seahawks succeeded where Minnesota couldn't in the exact same scenario. Right now, I'm betting the Vikings organization is wishing they had given Darnold another chance.
Perhaps there were other issues at play with Adofo-Mensah, like the fact he never drafted a Pro Bowler during his tenure as general manager. Letting Sam Darnold walk probably wasn't the reason he lost his job, but it absolutely had to factor in, especially seeing his 2024 season with Minnesota was not a fluke.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs Vikings: Did Sam Darnold cost Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job?
Continue reading...
Sorry, I need to clarify: former Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, as he was fired by the organization on Friday. Adofo-Mensah leaves Minnesota after four years managing the football team, but he will likely be best remembered for a deal he didn't do.
Last year, the Vikings had a choice to either keep Sam Darnold or roll the dice with JJ McCarthy. Minnesota ultimately chose McCarthy over Darnold, which allowed him to wind up in Seattle where the Seahawks were more than happy to have him. At the time, the logic was... somewhat defensible. McCarthy was a top ten draft pick and teams that hit on quarterbacks playing on their relatively inexpensive rookie contracts often have great success.
However, I will argue and say it's only somewhat defensible, because what was truly the best case scenario with JJ McCarthy? That he somehow plays as great as a quarterback who threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and guided the team to 14 wins? Well, if that's the case, why not just stick with the quarterback you know can do that!? This is quite literally the classic Family Guy "boat vs mystery box" bit.
"Sam Darnold is Sam Darnold, but JJ McCarthy could be anything... he could even be as good as Sam Darnold!"
Minnesota's loss was Seattle's gain, as Sam Darnold won 14 more games for the Seahawks, won the division, and made it to the Super Bowl. It's almost perfectly the opposite end of how the Vikings' season ended last year. Both Minnesota and Seattle finished the year with 14 wins and had a winner-take-all moment for the No. 1 seed against a division rival on the road. The Vikings were blown out in Week 18 and then in the Wild Card. Meanwhile the Seahawks succeeded where Minnesota couldn't in the exact same scenario. Right now, I'm betting the Vikings organization is wishing they had given Darnold another chance.
Perhaps there were other issues at play with Adofo-Mensah, like the fact he never drafted a Pro Bowler during his tenure as general manager. Letting Sam Darnold walk probably wasn't the reason he lost his job, but it absolutely had to factor in, especially seeing his 2024 season with Minnesota was not a fluke.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs Vikings: Did Sam Darnold cost Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job?
Continue reading...
