Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
The following questions are about current Minnesota Vikings topics, answered by VikingsTerritory. Today’s is the January 23rd edition, addressed in a from-the-hip fashion. If you have questions, please email them to DustinBakerNFL@gmail.com.
Also, please note: These are opinion-based responses. Some answers will be incorrect from time to time. But we’ll try to keep that to a minimum.
A: For the sake of bolstering the offensive line — once and for all — we trust Ryan Poles. He was an offensive lineman in college, so logic would suggest he believes offensive lines are essential. While Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer probably did too, they never fixed the pass-protection with the Vikings. It’s been a long eight years for that dirty little tendency.
We’ll be happy with Adofo-Mensah as well, bringing the analytics-based approach to the franchise. Yet, if forced to choose, Poles is the guy due to his Chiefsian spine and offensive line background.
How cool would it be for the Vikings to finally field a beefy offensive line that keeps the quarterback upright and relatively pressure-less? It will be weird to see, but we unabashedly endorse it. That’s how Super Bowl-winning teams do it.
A: Earlier this week, as a collective voice via our writers’ opinions, we endorsed Brian Daboll, offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. He’s credited with developing Josh Allen — who was wildly inaccurate for two years in the pros — into a Top 5 NFL passer. That deserves acknowledgment — of the head coaching variety.
Daboll is highly sought after, and the Vikings haven’t even added the man to their interview list. So, generally speaking, it’s a longshot for him to coach Minnesota in 2022. However, our writers believe the Vikings should trend in an offense-first direction, utilizing the roster tools like Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Irv Smith Jr.
Allowing Daboll to work with Kirk Cousins or the next quarterback seems like a sensible plan.
The group also likes Raheem Morris, who the Vikings did interview this week.
A: No, we do not support a Dalvin Cook trade.
We get it — running backs are a dime a dozen, for the most part. But not Cook. He’s compensated handsomely because he’s a Top 3 running back. Top 3 rushers are not a dime or dozen, so we support splurging on Cook for a few more years.
Of course, the decision is not up to us — it will be Poles or Adofo-Mensah — as the leadership will contemplate the fate of Cook (if it’s even on their minds to trade him). We are confident the Vikings would be just fine with a Mattison-Nwangwu sandwich (and possibly a rookie RB from the 2022 NFL Draft) if the new regime is anti-Cook.
Philosophically, though, Cook is a gamebreaker, in our opinion. Don’t let those slip out the backdoor.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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