Tag: Brian Asamoah

The Vikings 2022 draft class has not gone the way Minnesota’s then-rookie GM hoped

The Vikings 2022 draft class has not gone the way Minnesota’s then-rookie GM, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hoped, with the top two picks gone already

The New York Jets announced they have signed Lewis Cine to the team’s practice squad. Cine jumps to the Jets after the team that drafted the Georgia safety in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings, pulled the plug on the Lewis Cine experiment.

It’s a frustrating ending to the draft marriage between Cine and the Vikings, one that was quite positively viewed back at in 2022. A devastating leg injury ruined Cine’s rookie season, and he’s never recovered enough for the liking of Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Cine played in 10 total games in Minnesota, logging exactly one snap per game on defense. No other team claimed Cine on waivers this week.

Cine was the first-ever pick for Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, then a rookie general manager running his initial draft. Obviously, the injury to Cine was unforeseeable, but that whole first draft class from Adofo-Mensah in Minnesota has not gone as planned back in 2022.

1st round, S Lewis Cine: Waived at the 2024 roster deadline.

2nd round, CB Andrew Booth: Traded to Dallas earlier this summer. Two starts in 23 games over two seasons, 20 total tackles and one PD.

2nd round, OG Ed Ingram: Started 32 games at right guard and will continue to start for Minnesota.

3rd round, LB Brian Asamoah: Zero starts, plays almost exclusively on special teams

4th round, CB Akayleb Evans: Started 32 games and coming off a season where he notched 65 tackles, 7 PDs and forced three fumbles.

5th round, DT Esezi Otomewo: Waived after playing 89 snaps on defense as a rookie,

5th round, RB Ty Chandler: Ran for 461 yards and 3 TDs in 2023 while also catching 21 passes. He’ll be the No. 2 RB behind Aaron Jones in 2024.

6th round, OL Vederian Lowe: Traded during the 2023 roster cutdowns to the Patriots for a 2024 6th-round pick.

6th round, WR Jalen Nailor: 12 catches for 208 yards and a TD in 15 games thus far, though Nailor is poised to see the field more in 2024.

7th round, TE Nick Muse: Two offensive snaps in 2023, caught one pass for 12 yards in two years.

Ingram, Evans and Chandler ease some of the sting of those top two picks not working out, but teams that miss on premium picks are always at a major disadvantage. That’s been the development for Adofo-Mensah’s first draft class.

Several members of Vikings’ 2022 draft class fighting for roster spot

Several members of the Minnesota Vikings 2022 NFL Draft class, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s first, could be at risk of missing the 2024 roster.

It’s a popular sentiment in the NFL draft community that you must give a draft class three seasons before properly evaluating their performance. That means that the 2022 NFL draft class is coming into that third year, and for the Minnesota Vikings, it’s not looking good for a number of their picks from that class.

According to ESPN’s Minnesota Vikings reporter Kevin Seifert, a number of selections from the 2022 NFL draft class, the first for Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, could be at risk of losing starting spots and/or being on the roster bubble – or cut entirely when the team gets to roster cutdown day.

That 2022 draft saw the Vikings trade out of the 12th overall pick, pulling off a trade with division rivals Detroit, among others, to eventually land the 32nd, 42nd, 59th, and 66th picks.

For their efforts, the Lions acquired wide receiver Jameson Williams, while the Vikings acquired safety Lewis Cine, cornerback Andrew Booth, offensive guard Ed Ingram, and linebacker Brian Asamoah II.

While Williams hasn’t been Earth-shattering at the position for the Lions, it’s clear from the past two seasons and early returns from training camp that the Lions clearly came out on top in this trade. While Williams has found a solid place on the Lions roster, it looks like all four of the Vikings’ picks could be in danger in Year 3.

According to Seifert, Cine “appeared to be no better than the sixth safety on the roster.” Seifert mentions that Booth was working with the second team in camp and will likely have to contend with Shaquill Griffin and Khyree Jackson for a roster spot.

Asamoah has also been working in a reserve capacity in training camp, getting work behind last year’s UDFA stand-out Ivan Pace, Jr. and newcomer Blake Cashman, who was signed by the Vikings in the off-season after two seasons in Houston and three with the New York Jets.

While offensive lineman Ed Ingram is not likely in danger of losing his spot on the roster, head coach Kevin O’Connell has been on record as saying it will be a three-way competition between Ingram, Dalton Risner, and Blake Brandel for the two starting guard spots, and Ingram could easily be on the outside looking in in that competition.

According to Seifert, Cine is the most likely of the four not to make the Viking’s final roster, saying, “It would take a wild swing during training camp for Cine to get back into contention for playing time on defense.” Cine is on tap to make $1.7 million, which is fully guaranteed in 2024, so Minnesota could keep him around for depth and special teams play, but he may wind up being a cut candidate as the Vikings get down to 53.

Vikings state of the roster: Inside linebacker

As we look at the state of the Minnesota Vikings inside linebackers, the roster isn’t flush with talent, but rather major question marks.

The 2023 season is inching closer and closer by the day and we here at Vikings Wire are previewing the season from every angle. Today, we continue profiling the Minnesota Vikings roster on the defensive side of the football.

We are currently writing player profiles on each Viking on the roster with projections for what their 2023 season could look like. How things look projecting forward is where the real intrigue lies.

Leading up to training camp, we will be looking at each position from a more in-depth perspective. Today, we will be looking at the edge rushers.

Madden ratings for every Vikings inside linebacker

The weakest position group on the Minnesota Vikings is inside linebacker and the Madden ratings reflect that.

On Monday, the first batch of Madden 24 rankings and the first 99 overall in this year’s game were released.

They are currently releasing two position groups per day and started with wide receivers and safeties. On Tuesday, they released edge rushers and defensive tackles. On Wednesday, they ranked the offensive lineman and the running backs. On Thursday, they started with the tight end and cornerback rankings. On Friday, they started with the quarterback rankings.

Expectations for 2022 draft class: Purple Access

The Minnesota Vikings are banking on their 2022 NFL Draft class to make a big impact in 2023.

The Minnesota Vikings spent their 2023 offseason in both free agency and the NFL draft banking on their 2022 draft class making a major impact. The Vikings have all 10 players returning to them for training camp this July.

Will that strategy pay off? The Vikings sure hope so, and they have a lot of talent to make it happen.

On the latest episode of Purple Access, Vikings Wire’s Tyler Forness and Judd Zulgad talk about that and more, including:

  • Lewis Cine
  • Andrew Booth Jr.
  • Ed Ingram
  • Brian Asamoah
  • Akayleb Evans
  • Mekhi Blackmon
  • Brian Flores

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah leaves out key veterans in NFL combine presser

While speaking about the defense, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah intentionally left out key veterans

The NFL Scouting Combine is officially underway, which means that for the first time since the Minnesota Vikings season ended, we get to hear from general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah about the roster.

Typically, NFL combine pressers are just a bunch of surface-level information, as teams don’t want to reveal too much about their plans for the upcoming offseason. On Tuesday, Adofo-Mensah may have unintentionally revealed one part of his plan.

On Tuesday, Adofo-Mensah was asked linebacker group at the NFL combine, and whether it was intentional or not, he left out Kendricks and Hicks in his response.

“It’s a position, just like every position we look at. We have a lot of confidence in Brian Asamoah, who is also in that room. Troy Dye is a very good player. William Kwenkeu has shown some really good things on special teams. We’re going to take a look, just like we do at every position. But we have decisions to make, just like every other team.”

The statement from Adofo-Mensah is nothing that fans don’t already know, but leaving out Kendricks and Hicks when talking about the linebacker group is noteworthy.

It’s no secret that the Vikings are in dire need of cap space. With many aging veterans taking large cap hits, there are bound to be restructures or cap casualties. A couple of those players could include linebackers Eric Kendricks and Jordan Hicks.

According to Over The Cap, Kendricks is due $11.4 million this season and can be cut for $9.5 million in cap savings with only $1.93 million in dead cap. Meanwhile, Hicks is due $6.5 million, and cutting him would result in $5 million in cap savings with only $1.5 million in dead cap.

We know that the Vikings are going to need to make some of these tough decisions sooner rather than later. With Adofo-Mensah’s comments, or lack thereof. It seems as if the writing is on the wall for Kendricks and Hicks and that the Vikings might be moving in a different direction.

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Zulgad: Examining the Vikings’ 2022 draft class and the expectations for next season

With their rookie season behind them, @jzulgad examines their performance and what their expectations should be for next season

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah received criticism during his rookie year as an NFL general manager for not getting more from his first draft class.

The Vikings selected 10 players in the seven rounds, but only one, Ed Ingram, turned into a full-time starter and the right guard had plenty of rocky moments.

The good news for Adofo-Mensah is nobody is closing the book on this draft class and all ten of them remain on the roster. This week we are going to look at the nine remaining players, beginning in this column with the top five selections.

How do they fit into the 2023 plans and what should be the expectations for them?

Zulgad: Five Vikings who stand to benefit the most from the hiring of Brian Flores

With the Vikings hiring of Brian Flores, @jzulgad identified five defenders who stand to benefit the most

There will be plenty to speculate on this offseason when it comes to what Brian Flores will bring to the Vikings as their new defensive coordinator.

Flores and his predecessor, Ed Donatell, might both run 3-4 defenses, but that’s where the similarities end. Flores loves to send pressure at opposing quarterbacks and provide pre-snap looks that cause confusion. Donatell was expected to do some of those things but it didn’t end up happening.

The Vikings’ defense only sent pressure 18.9 percent of the time this season and ranked 24th in the NFL, according to Pro Football Reference. The Giants, who beat the Vikings in the first round of the playoffs, were first at 39.7 percent.

Flores, who was a defensive assistant this past season with the Pittsburgh Steelers after being fired as the Dolphins’ coach, was in charge of a Miami defense that ranked second in the NFL in blitz rate at 39.6 percent in 2021.

That’s only one example of the difference in philosophy that Flores will bring to Minnesota. So what current Vikings stand to benefit the most?

2022 Minnesota Vikings Awards

After the Vikings season, we gave out awards to the best of the team

The Minnesota Vikings sadly had their season end in the NFC Wild Card round of the playoffs amid their successful regular season. Even though the season is over, there is still a lot the Vikings’ players can hang their hats on. So here at Vikings Wire, we’re going to hand out awards for them this season, much like the NFL does!

Vikings Report Card: Grading the Vikings 2022 Rookie Class

We took a look at all the Vikings rookies in 2022 and give them a grade for their performance.

The Minnesota Vikings had ten draft picks in their 2022 draft class, and they were able to get some meaningful snaps from some of those players.

While it’s unlikely that rookies will come in their first season and make an immediate impact, it’s good to reflect on where the rookie class is after one season.

It’s important to remember that you shouldn’t fully form your opinion until they have at least three seasons under their belt. It’s a real adjustment.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at how all the draft picks did this past season.