Kwesi

[Wolvesfan21]

I think I might have to fire him after this year. I think overall he's done a C grade, some good, but lots of bad too (mostly draft whiffs which is my concern going forward as our depth and youth is weak).

My thinking is, while you could do worse, whats the ultimate goal here? Win a SB. A mediocre job at the GM spot probably doesn't get it done and I'm not confident in his drafting.

Your thoughts?

[60WinTim]

I think I might have to fire him after this year. I think overall he's done a C grade, some good, but lots of bad too (mostly draft whiffs which is my concern going forward as our depth and youth is weak).

My thinking is, while you could do worse, whats the ultimate goal here? Win a SB. A mediocre job at the GM spot probably doesn't get it done and I'm not confident in his drafting.

Your thoughts?

Did he sign an extension this past year?

[Wolvesfan21]

I think I might have to fire him after this year. I think overall he's done a C grade, some good, but lots of bad too (mostly draft whiffs which is my concern going forward as our depth and youth is weak).

My thinking is, while you could do worse, whats the ultimate goal here? Win a SB. A mediocre job at the GM spot probably doesn't get it done and I'm not confident in his drafting.

Your thoughts?

Did he sign an extension this past year?

Yeah he did which means it's unlikely he's fired. Would you also say he's been about a C grade?

[60WinTim]

I think I might have to fire him after this year. I think overall he's done a C grade, some good, but lots of bad too (mostly draft whiffs which is my concern going forward as our depth and youth is weak).

My thinking is, while you could do worse, whats the ultimate goal here? Win a SB. A mediocre job at the GM spot probably doesn't get it done and I'm not confident in his drafting.

Your thoughts?

Did he sign an extension this past year?

Yeah he did which means it's unlikely he's fired. Would you also say he's been about a C grade?

A C is probably fair. It's funny how that grade comes down to how quickly McCarthy develops. If McCarthy plays .500+ the remainder of the season, Kwesi's grade improves, if not, it declines.

Regardless of how that goes, it's Kwesi's draft hits that are a pretty significant concern. Was there much change in the Vikings scouting department when Kwesi was hired? Maybe some changes are needed there...

[Wolvesfan21]

Did he sign an extension this past year?

Yeah he did which means it's unlikely he's fired. Would you also say he's been about a C grade?

A C is probably fair. It's funny how that grade comes down to how quickly McCarthy develops. If McCarthy plays .500+ the remainder of the season, Kwesi's grade improves, if not, it declines.

Regardless of how that goes, it's Kwesi's draft hits that are a pretty significant concern. Was there much change in the Vikings scouting department when Kwesi was hired? Maybe some changes are needed there...

He's had years, you can't give a guy a decade. Even if you give him a pass a bit on the disaster of his first draft 2022 was it? Maybe he was stuck with holdovers from Spielman? Even then the past few are not exactly good either.

Last years FA was good, this years not so much. I just balance it down to a C grade.

Not good enough IMO. Sure if JJ starts turning it around that pick starts to look better and maybe things change. Even so, the pass on Verse for Turner looks to be pretty bad right now too. Just so many picks look weak, even the Hock trade. It was meh considering we had to pay him top 5 TE money. You give up a pick and now have to pay a guy?

[Wolvesfan21]

Did he sign an extension this past year?

Yeah he did which means it's unlikely he's fired. Would you also say he's been about a C grade?

A C is probably fair. It's funny how that grade comes down to how quickly McCarthy develops. If McCarthy plays .500+ the remainder of the season, Kwesi's grade improves, if not, it declines.

Regardless of how that goes, it's Kwesi's draft hits that are a pretty significant concern. Was there much change in the Vikings scouting department when Kwesi was hired? Maybe some changes are needed there...

After more research I'm downgrading Kwesi to a D. We're 50 some mill over the cap, we probably have to cut/trade/renegotiate with 5-6 starters just to get under the cap, which then will leave us thin in a lot of spots.

We have weak depth from bad drafting! I'd fire him to be fair. Guys who might be gone are a plenty, Smith, Kelly, Hargrave, Hock, maybe even Grenard (he makes like 28 mill next year, but maybe we can trade him for a pick). So we got a lot of holes to fill, no money to do it either!!!

Maybe we could have rolled over more cap into this year and next? Not sure to be honest, but our vets are aging and too expensive now.

[Wolvesfan21]

This timing is strange for sure (Firing). Was it the embarrassment of Darnold succeeding that was the final nail? I kind of feel like it is. The sports talk shows railed again on the Vikings mishandling of the QB spot last offseason. I don't think anyone was really happy with that overall room going into last year. I was super meh on Wentz and if the staff liked Brosmer then OK, but that looked like a misfire too.

I too was maybe wrong about Darnold, but then again, I kind of feel like they handled him much better. Insulated him in many games from doing too much (lots of runs and elite defense). Heck he was piss poor in our game, but with our like 5 TO's that game we handed them the win. He did show out in the NFC champ game, so give him all that credit.

Fine move though long term. I still don't understand why we were so "all in" last year using up all that cap space and resource when realistically with JJ my most optimistic hope was a playoff game win. We were never a contender with a young rook at QB or Wentz. It was just never going to happen.

[Monster]

This timing is strange for sure (Firing). Was it the embarrassment of Darnold succeeding that was the final nail? I kind of feel like it is. The sports talk shows railed again on the Vikings mishandling of the QB spot last offseason. I don't think anyone was really happy with that overall room going into last year. I was super meh on Wentz and if the staff liked Brosmer then OK, but that looked like a misfire too.

I too was maybe wrong about Darnold, but then again, I kind of feel like they handled him much better. Insulated him in many games from doing too much (lots of runs and elite defense). Heck he was piss poor in our game, but with our like 5 TO's that game we handed them the win. He did show out in the NFC champ game, so give him all that credit.

Fine move though long term. I still don't understand why we were so "all in" last year using up all that cap space and resource when realistically with JJ my most optimistic hope was a playoff game win. We were never a contender with a young rook at QB or Wentz. It was just never going to happen.

After reading and listening to various reports it seems like the biggest reason Kwesi was let go was he just wasn't getting the job done as the leader of an NFL franchise. There were questions about his ability to lead decisiveness and there was one report that said he was kinda arrogant wanting to be the smartest guy in the room. There are reports that him being let go because of the QB situation is silly and I think that's probably true but I do think some of the issues with Kwesi probably led them to fumble the QB spot.

Kevin O'Connell seems to pretty much always looked to add as much to that QB room as he could. I'm not sure he was like yep it's a rookie QB Sam Howell and Rypien and we are set. I think that may have been even less likely once at some point in they probably knew Brosmer was gonna make the roster. So I'm not remotely putting the blame on Kwesi for what happened but I think some of why he was fired may have led to where they ended up at QB last season.

The reason the season failed had a lot to do with injuries to the oline combined with loses to the the coaching staff and even some veteran players like Bradbury at C. If you wonder if the Vikings can improve next season look no farther than the Patriots who went from a horrendous online where they maybe had one starting level play a majority of snaps to a mostly healthy line where guys were at least legit starters. Other than center the Vikings have the talent and they might even have a guy or 2 who could be solid enough at the C spot if the rest of the oline group isn't in shambles. I'd guess they get a FA though.

They have plenty of levers to pull to add to the roster via the draft and FA. Let's see if o'Connell and Flores can make the right decisions on players because until someone else is hired it seems pretty clear they are gonna have a pretty big voice in personnel. I trust Flores even though 1 of the DT signings last off-season didn't go well at all. They also signed Rodgers for a reasonable deal and bringing back wilson was a very good move that often doesn't get mentioned when talking about the 2025 Vikings FA. I feel like things are less predictable this off-season with Kwesi gone. It should be plenty interesting to see what they do.

[Wolvesfan21]

This timing is strange for sure (Firing). Was it the embarrassment of Darnold succeeding that was the final nail? I kind of feel like it is. The sports talk shows railed again on the Vikings mishandling of the QB spot last offseason. I don't think anyone was really happy with that overall room going into last year. I was super meh on Wentz and if the staff liked Brosmer then OK, but that looked like a misfire too.

I too was maybe wrong about Darnold, but then again, I kind of feel like they handled him much better. Insulated him in many games from doing too much (lots of runs and elite defense). Heck he was piss poor in our game, but with our like 5 TO's that game we handed them the win. He did show out in the NFC champ game, so give him all that credit.

Fine move though long term. I still don't understand why we were so "all in" last year using up all that cap space and resource when realistically with JJ my most optimistic hope was a playoff game win. We were never a contender with a young rook at QB or Wentz. It was just never going to happen.

After reading and listening to various reports it seems like the biggest reason Kwesi was let go was he just wasn't getting the job done as the leader of an NFL franchise. There were questions about his ability to lead decisiveness and there was one report that said he was kinda arrogant wanting to be the smartest guy in the room. There are reports that him being let go because of the QB situation is silly and I think that's probably true but I do think some of the issues with Kwesi probably led them to fumble the QB spot.

Kevin O'Connell seems to pretty much always looked to add as much to that QB room as he could. I'm not sure he was like yep it's a rookie QB Sam Howell and Rypien and we are set. I think that may have been even less likely once at some point in they probably knew Brosmer was gonna make the roster. So I'm not remotely putting the blame on Kwesi for what happened but I think some of why he was fired may have led to where they ended up at QB last season.

The reason the season failed had a lot to do with injuries to the oline combined with loses to the the coaching staff and even some veteran players like Bradbury at C. If you wonder if the Vikings can improve next season look no farther than the Patriots who went from a horrendous online where they maybe had one starting level play a majority of snaps to a mostly healthy line where guys were at least legit starters. Other than center the Vikings have the talent and they might even have a guy or 2 who could be solid enough at the C spot if the rest of the oline group isn't in shambles. I'd guess they get a FA though.

They have plenty of levers to pull to add to the roster via the draft and FA. Let's see if o'Connell and Flores can make the right decisions on players because until someone else is hired it seems pretty clear they are gonna have a pretty big voice in personnel. I trust Flores even though 1 of the DT signings last off-season didn't go well at all. They also signed Rodgers for a reasonable deal and bringing back wilson was a very good move that often doesn't get mentioned when talking about the 2025 Vikings FA. I feel like things are less predictable this off-season with Kwesi gone. It should be plenty interesting to see what they do.

I've been listening to podcasts and such too. I agree that the overall failure so to speak (not winning a playoff game is a failure over 4 years) eventually has to fall on the GM. His first draft was such a bust that it set us back 4-5 years. You just can't expect to win it all when you have drafts of 90% busts. You got to hit a homerun here or there.

I do blame Kwesi though ultimately for the QB spot. Had we a better GM do we at least keep Jones, never mind Darnold? Maybe? With how well he played last season we are probably right there with Seattle as a contender with Jones. Maybe a better GM is able to trade up for Drake Maye?

My feeling on him with KOC and Flores is that they didn't respect him, like at all. His lack of football knowledge compared to theirs made it so, that and the combined whiffs in the draft. I can see their points too. But how much of the draft picks were Kwesi/scout/FO decisions versus guys KOC/Flores liked. Hard to say.