Vikings Push Back on Scrutiny for Signing $4.5 Million Veteran

Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has faced scrutiny for signing veteran cornerback Shaquill Griffin in March.

The issue isn’t Griffin, who signed a one-year, $4.55 million deal at the start of free agency. He’s a solid player and likely to start this season for a team that wasn’t looking to splurge at cornerback.

That’s been overlooked after the latest compensatory pick projections from Over The Cap on May 6 painted the Vikings’ signing of Griffin as essentially burning a third-round pick. The Vikings were projected to receive a pair of third-round compensatory picks for the 2025 draft after losing Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter in free agency.

But the Vikings’ signing of Griffin upped their total of incoming compensatory free agents (CFAs) to five compared to the six players they lost. Despite Griffin signing for far less than Hunter did with the Houston Texans, his addition canceled out the pick the Vikings were set to receive for Hunter’s departure.

The Griffin signing has become the latest sticking point with the Adofo-Mensah regime that earned high marks for landing first-round replacements in the draft for Cousins and Hunter in rookies J.J. McCarthy (No. 10 overall) and Dallas Turner (No. 17).

However, Star Tribune reporter Ben Goessling revealed the Vikings’ thought process and oversight in the projection that signals the Vikings were never poised to have two compensatory picks.

Vikings Never Expected 2nd Comp Pick: Insider

During an appearance on KFAN radio, Goessling revealed that the Vikings never expected to receive a second third-round compensatory pick — a take he later elaborated on as fans on social media remain in a frenzy over the potential blunder.

“I’m told the team was always expecting one (and only one) third-round pick next year, from losing Kirk Cousins. The Vikings figured Jonathan Greenard‘s deal would cancel Danielle Hunter’s contract; they never expected two 3rds,” Goessling wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “As I understand it, the Shaq Griffin signing on March 19 came after the Vikings had already estimated they’d get only one (not two) 3rd-rounders next year. They’d determined he wouldn’t cost them a second 3rd, because they never expected to have one in the first place.”

The compensatory pick formula is not fixed and depends on in-season performance and offseason moves. Although Over The Cap’s Nick Korte is rarely wrong with his projections, he has Greenard, the de-facto replacement for Hunter this season, projected to play only 34.9% of snaps. Hunter played 89% of defensive snaps last year.

Greenard has missed time throughout his career due to injury. However, if he even matches his 2023 snap percentage (62%) next season, his value in the formula will rise to the fringe of third-round pick compensation and cancel out Hunter’s potential comp pick.

If Greenard plays over 70% of defensive snaps, which would be a career-high, a third-round comp pick would be out of the question — the conclusion the Vikings likely arrived on.

Vikings’ Adofo-Mensah Turning a New Leaf, NFL Takes Notice

Adofo-Mensah’s first two drafts both started with trade-downs from the first round.

It was much of the same for Vikings fans who watched Rick Spielman take a similar approach — accumulate picks, draft heavy in Day 2 and Day 3 and hope a few developmental prospects rise beyond their draft status.

This year’s draft was a departure from that strategy. Adofo-Mensah traded up twice in the first round, depleting his supply of late-round picks.

An AFC executive who had correspondence with the Vikings on draft week was surprised by Adofo-Mensah’s shift, noting an acceptance of the “reality” that you find building blocks for a roster early in the draft.

“I had to think twice because I had him pegged as a volume guy when it came to draft picks,” the executive told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “It looks like he’s shifted his thinking to where, the reality is it’s hard to win without players you can build around.”

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