Thoughts on Kwesi through ~3 seasons?

[swede700]

Who's Kwefi?  Is that some new fan-dangled upgraded Wifi? 

Seriously though...I view Kwesi as getting better every day and every year.  And that's what I expect.  Is he perfect?  Absolutely not..the first draft was pretty terrible, the 2nd one was a little better and I believe this one will turn out better as well.  He's got the cap situation part figured out, which was part of what he was hired to do. 

And BTW, Levis and McCarthy aren't comparable in the least.  While I wouldn't have minded Levis, McCarthy has far more upside than Levis and actually a lot less to work on. It also helps that McCarthy is a full 2 yrs younger coming into the NFL than Levis was. 

Edited April 30 by swede700

[vike daddy]

2 minutes ago, swede700 said:

Who's Kwefi?

this guy, apparently...

 

https://forums.footballsfuture.com/topic/54250-2024-let-kwesi-cook-the-2024-draft-class/page/4/#comment-5775106

 

[Snake Plissken]

I think he has done well building team culture.  KOC has the potential to be a good long term coach.  Flores is one of the best DCs in the league.  Players on both sides of the ball want to play for Minnesota.  It is an organization that resonates with today's players as evidenced by the players' survey.

 

He is still growing on the personnel side.  It was expected that a new GM would make mistakes their first year, but as everyone knows that was a disaster.  Year two was better.  Year 3 shows more growth.  It looks like he took the lessons from that first year and applied them.  Instead of taking a blue chipper like Kyle Hamilton or a highly rated prospect in Jordan Davis, he traded back for players that haven't had the same impact.  In this year's draft he played the QB situation as well as could be expected.  Instead of taking a lower rated player at 23, he made the moves to take a blue chip prospect in Dallas Turner.   The development of players like Blackmon, Ward, and Roy will affect his draft grade.  A good sign is that the team was able to sign a top udfa in Ivan Pace last season and that a strong group of udfas wanted to again sign with MN.  

[wcblack34]

Resigning Cousins was absolutely NOT a mistake. It was the only thing that made sense at the time, he led them to 13 wins in 2022, and without a torn achilles last season, he likely would have led them into the playoffs and would have been in the MVP conversation. That was a stellar move on Kwesi's part. 

 

Edited April 30 by wcblack34

[vikesfan89]

8 minutes ago, wcblack34 said:

Resigning Cousins was absolutely NOT a mistake. It was the only thing that made sense at the time, he led them to 13 wins in 2022, and without a torn achilles last season, he likely would have led them into the playoffs and would have been in the MVP conversation. That was a stellar move on Kwesi's part. 

 

Weren't Picket and Levis the only QBs that they really had a shot at in his 1st 2 drafts also?

[VikeManDan]

2 hours ago, SteelKing728 said:

We lost out on a 3rd round comp pick for a guy who might not even start, and that puts a blemish on things. Right now, I'll call this a B-.

Can't lose it if it hasn't been awarded yet, with that being said Shaq could be cut week 10 to put the potential of a comp pick back in play.

Big picture, IMO, KAM has improved every year he's held the position and appears to have learned from past mistakes. He's gotten the cap back on track and will be able to spend in free agency in 2025 even with the looming JJ18 and Darrisaw extensions.

We'll truly start to see his stamp on the team this season. He's done well turning the roster over since the Spielman/Zimmer era.

[vike daddy]

1 hour ago, swede700 said:

I view Kwesi as getting better every day and every year.  And that's what I expect.  Is he perfect?  Absolutely not..the first draft was pretty terrible, the 2nd one was a little better and I believe this one will turn out better as well.  He's got the cap situation part figured out, which was part of what he was hired to do. 

And BTW, Levis and McCarthy aren't comparable in the least.  While I wouldn't have minded Levis, McCarthy has far more upside than Levis and actually a lot less to work on. It also helps that McCarthy is a full 2 yrs younger coming into the NFL than Levis was. 

[swede700]

10 hours ago, Magnus-Viktor said:

 Before the draft, they traded for a 2nd 1st round pick, presumably to package that to move up for a real franchise QB.  Then, they didn't do it.  Yet another stupid move in my book.  You either go all in, or you don't.  You don't make half of a move, and then stop.  They should've went so far as to give up next year's #1 if that's what it took to get to #3 for Drake Maye.  They wouldn't have made the move for a 2nd #1, if McCarthy was their target all along, IMO.  Now, maybe New England wouldn't trade back no matter what, but you'd think they would for the right offer.  
 

It has now been reported that they did, in fact, offer the 2025 1st rd pick (in addition to #11 and #23) to move up for Maye.  NE balked at giving back 2 mid-round picks, which is what the Vikings asked for...and I actually don't have an issue with not making that move if they refused to give back a couple of mid-rounders...it is what it is.  I'm sure people would have ripped Kwesi for not getting back any additional picks if he had pulled the trigger on that.

[swede700]

14 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said:

Weren't Picket and Levis the only QBs that they really had a shot at in his 1st 2 drafts also?

I believe so...although it was reported that they were willing to give up the farm to get Richardson last year.

[vike daddy]

8 minutes ago, swede700 said:

It has now been reported that they did, in fact, offer the 2025 1st rd pick (in addition to #11 and #23) to move up for Maye.  NE balked at giving back 2 mid-round picks, which is what the Vikings asked for...and I actually don't have an issue with not making that move if they refused to give back a couple of mid-rounders...it is what it is.  I'm sure people would have ripped Kwesi for not getting back any additional picks if he had pulled the trigger on that.

again, i'll take [McCarthy/Turner/2025 1st Round pick] over having [Maye].

[swede700]

1 minute ago, vike daddy said:

again, i'll take [McCarthy/Turner/2025 1st Round pick] over having [Maye].

Agreed.  I don't think Maye and McCarthy were separated by very much, so ultimately, what actually happened was the better outcome. 

[VikeManDan]

10 hours ago, Magnus-Viktor said:

Before the draft, they traded for a 2nd 1st round pick, presumably to package that to move up for a real franchise QB.  Then, they didn't do it.  Yet another stupid move in my book.  You either go all in, or you don't.  You don't make half of a move, and then stop.

It has been widely reported that the Texans approached the Vikings about 1.23 not the other way around. Not sure if you were implying any which way the deal happened but figured I'd point that out if you hadn't heard.

[wcblack34]

Such a stupid move that they got their franchise QB and the top defensive player in the draft. They should have just traded three firsts to the Cardinals or Chargers and just taken McCarthy at 4 or 5. That would have been smart, I guess. 

[Magnus-Viktor]

7 hours ago, viking said:

I voted B. He's been getting better year over year.

He's made some A+ moves (bringing in Flores & Moving on from Kirk) but also some head scratches (Poorish drafting, not getting the Jefferson deal done)

 

biggest plus is having the balls to admit that Kirk was never going to win a ring in Minnesota. We could have easily matched the Atlanta deal and kept kirk on for 2-4 years.

You know, that's a good point that I hadn't thought of there!  Idk if that's him or O'Connell bringing in the coordinators though.  Whoever is responsible for that one deserves a lot of credit though.  That was a great move bringing in Flores.  I never really associated that with Kwefi because I've typically associated hiring coordinators as a head coach thing.  Just like hiring a head coach is an ownership thing with some teams, while the GM will do it in others.  (this is just based on what I've read throughout the years I've been following sports - some owners are more hands on, and some GMs are more hands on, is basically what I'm saying)

I would say the drafting has been horrific up until now though, rather than poorish.  Dirt poor lol.  

I wanted to change my vote from F to D, simply because we could be stuck with Kirk still, and that was surely largely in part to him that we aren't.  I've wanted Kirk gone for YEARS!

[VikeManDan]

8 minutes ago, Magnus-Viktor said:

I never really associated that with Kwefi because I've typically associated hiring coordinators as a head coach thing.

Kwesi, with an "s", let's put some respect on his name!!

To the quoted point though, I'll give Kwesi credit for the KOC hire but I'll give KOC credit for the Flores hire. It is after all KOC's coaching staff, not Kwesi's.