New Regime Has Minnesota Vikings Marching In Same Direction As Team Prepares For 2022 Season

The Minnesota Vikings may have made some major changes at the top of their executive chart, but it doesn’t seem like the way the team does its business on the field is going to change very much.

The Vikings have not made much of a splash in free agency, as the signing of Arizona linebacker Jordan Hicks to a two-year, $12 million deal has been the biggest move to date. However, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell have made something of a statement by reworking the contracts of quarterback Kirk Cousins and wide receiver Adam Thielen.

The complaints and criticisms about Cousins are well-founded, and it is difficult for Vikings fans to feel confident that things are going to be much different in the future than they have been throughout Cousins’ four-year tenure with the Vikings.

They were a playoff team in the 2019 season, and actually won a postseason game on the road that year. However, that is the only time they have made the playoffs with Cousins under center, and they have been a losing team each of the last two years.

Cousins certainly knows how to put impressive statistics on the board, and he has been doing that throughout his 10-year career in the NFL. In his first six years with Washington, Cousins also had eye-catching numbers, but failed to come through with his best games when the team needed them most. That criticism has been even further established during his run in Minnesota.

Nevertheless, the team has made sure Cousins will remain with the team through the 2023 season. The new deal lowers Cousins’ cap hit by $14 million for the 2022 season but it also includes a $35 million guarantee for the following year.

There were multiple inquiries about Cousins from other NFL teams, but the question Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell would have faced if they had moved him is who would have been the team’s quarterback in 2022 and beyond. There does not seem to be any answer that is better than the current alternative.

It is worth noting that former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer did not believe that Cousins made enough winning plays, and former Washington head coach Jay Gruden was of a similar mind when the quarterback was wearing Burgundy and Gold.

O’Connell worked with Cousins when the two were together in Washington, and one of his first tests will be finding a way to get more out of Cousins in big games than his previous head coaches. While O’Connell is confident he can do just that, he will have to prove he can do just that in games against the Green Bay Packers and other top teams that the Vikings will face.

It’s not enough for Cousins to put together a season in which he throws for 4,221 yards with a 33-7 TD-interception ratio. Cousins will have to show that he is not afraid of success when he faces teams like the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills in addition to the Packers.

Thielen has been a vital part of the Minnesota offense for the last six seasons. The Vikings were able to reduce his cap number for 2022 while giving him a $9 million signing bonus, and they can feel secure that he will continue to be productive as long as he remains healthy.

Thielen is a brilliant route runner who caught 67 passes for 726 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games last year. Thielen is one of the game’s outstanding red zone targets, having caught 24 TD passes in the last two seasons.

The partnership of Thielen with soon-to-be third-year wide receiver Justin Jefferson is perhaps the Vikings’ best attribute. The 1-2 punch of Thielen and Jefferson gives the Vikings an edge over nearly every team in the league at the starting WR spots, as Jefferson has shown that he is a game-changing receiver with speed, route-running skills and tremendous hands.

The Vikings will soon have to address Jefferson’s contract needs, and when they do, they may have to make hard decisions involving running back Dalvin Cook or safety Harrison Smith.

If and when that happens, Vikings fans may be asking why the team didn’t start making the tough decisions in 2022, at the start of the Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell regime.