Pro Football Focus accolades for Minnesota Vikings rookies shine light on Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's scouting abilities

Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has gotten a lot of criticism from fans and analysts in his short tenure. Some of it is fair while a lot of it is rooted in preconceived notions about his ability to scout prospects.

One of those elements is the selections of safety Lewis Cine and cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. with his first two picks in the 2022 NFL Draft, which was also Adofo-Mensah's first draft in the role. He spoke about how the selection specifically of Cine was due to trying to fix everything at once .

“I thought a lot about those days and competing, trying to compete on multiple timelines and different things like that. I had a conversation with Kev - this is probably a year ago or something around then - and I asked him, ‘What was it like when we were down 33-nothing [against the Colts]?’ You know, when you feel like you're down, when I entered the building: trying to compete, aging roster, salary cap stuff, I think there were times where I felt down 33-nothing. And as we all know from that game, it starts with one play, one drive, and you build.

"And I think at times I might have been guilty of trying to have a 33-point play all at once. I think if you've seen from since then, it's been really foundationally, just taking good steps, building to a certain critical point where I think we compete over the long term.”

Accolades from PFF show Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can scout talent

One of the tough parts about discussing general managers is their evolution as evaluators and decision makers. That first impression is one of the biggest things that will stick around in the minds of fans and some analysts. It's especially true when it comes to Adofo-Mensah, as he's the first analytics general manager in the NFL and it has people being extra critical of him. Some analysts are stuck in the mud with Adofo-Mensah and it shows in their opinions.

Well, he's evolved his process a lot over his first two and a half years in the job. The first offseason was on short notice, as he took the job on January 18th, 2022. Instead of focusing on the metrics in Relative Athletic Score, there has been a noticable shift to using GPS data and it's paying dividends.

Pro Football Focus named their preseason all-rookie team and the Vikings led the league with four players making the team.

• DT Taki Taimani
• ILB Dallas Gant
• CB Dwight McGlothern
• K Will Reichard

Three of those players have made the team with Gant being on the practice squad. UDFAs are an interesting group because they help fill out the back end of your roster and could become starters down the line. Adofo-Mensah found a starter in linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. as a UDFA in 2023 and could have found three more this offseason.

It's genuinely frustrating that Cine and Booth didn't work out, but if you learn from your mistakes and improve, it's okay to let it go.

Related: Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's decision to roster 3 rookie defensive linemen could prove to be a brilliant move