It wasn’t a huge surprise that Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah traded out of the 12th overall pick in order to gather more selections over the course of the draft, but the team he traded with was a bit unexpected.
The Lions moved up from No. 32 and sent that pick, No. 34 and No. 66 to the Vikings so they could grab wide receiver Jameson Williams. There’s an adage about not trading within the division, but Adofo-Mensah told Peter King in this week’s Football Morning in America that he doesn’t fully subscribe to it.
He said he wouldn’t trade Justin Jefferson in the division, but that draft picks are different because they’re speculative. He added that he would have traded with someone else had there been a similar offer on the table, but that wasn’t the case and he made the deal despite knowing that any success Williams has against the Vikings will lead to mentions of how he got to Detroit.
“I’m not dumb. I know every touchdown catch [Williams] scores against us, TV will show me or show my name,” Adofo-Mensah said. “That’s life. If my feelings are going to get in the way of us making decisions to improve the team, I shouldn’t be in this seat. I made the decision because I’m in charge, but it’s more fair to say we made the decision as an organization. The [draft] room was behind what we were doing . . . Detroit had [picks] 32 and 34, and we were targeting those picks for specific reasons.”
Adofo-Mensah made another trade in the second round and picked up two second-round picks by dealing No. 34 to the Packers. He told King that any other team picking after them would have agreed to that deal and “it’d just have been about saving face with the media” if they didn’t make it because it was Green Bay.
The Packers took wideout Christian Watson after the trade, so the Vikings secondary will have a lot to do with how Adofo-Mensah’s moves are regarded a few years from now.