INDIANAPOLIS — It's been an interesting offseason thus far for the Minnesota Vikings, filled with plenty of speculation about the team moving forward.
Does the front office let Pro Bowl edge rusher Danielle Hunter walk? Should the Vikings move on from Kirk Cousins? How much money is the best wide receiver on the planet worth? And if it's too expensive, should they test the trade market?
"That is not something that has once crossed my mind," said Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah while addressing the media Tuesday at the NFL Combine. "You got a blue(-chip) player — blue(-chip) person — you try and keep as many of those as you can."
Jefferson is expected to reset the wide receiver market, and while he's expressed interest in returning to Minnesota, the Vikings will certainly have to compensate him for what he's been able to do in his first four seasons. No other receiver has compiled as many receiving yards in their first four years as Jefferson (5,899), and he's done so despite missing seven games this past season with a hamstring injury.
"We had a lot of great dialogue last offseason," Adofo-Mensah said. "I think people forget, deals rarely happen after three years, and there's a reason. ... We got unbelievably close (last offseason). We've said it and we'll continue to say it, we think he's the best wide receiver in the league and should be compensated as such. We think he's one of the best non-quarterbacks in the league, and we think he should be compensated as such. And so we'll continue to have those dialogues and those conversations."
However, money might not be the only factor. The Vikings are still weighing their options at quarterback, which could play into whether Jefferson wants to remain in Minnesota or not. Cousins — and his contract — have been a talking point for several years, but now that his contract is about to expire, it's become an even hotter topic.
"Had a great conversation with him a few days ago ... but at the end of the day, we have our interests, he has his, and we get to the table and see if we can figure out a creative solution and how to meet in the middle," said Adofo-Mensah. "What we do know is we have a really great quarterback (in Cousins), a really great leader and somebody we think we can win the ultimate prize with."
Cousins, who will be 36 when the regular season kicks off in the fall, is coming back from a torn Achilles. Video surfaced recently of him throwing passes, and he's been vocal about his intentions of being available for spring OTAs, but it's still unclear when he will be fully recovered.
"Kirk Cousins knows how I feel, I've held no secrets there. He knows how the Minnesota Vikings feel about him," Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell said during his NFL Combine press conference on Tuesday. "I believe Kirk wants to be a Viking, and we're going to work to try to make that the outcome. I think anytime you go into situations like this, it is a negotiation, you're trying to come to an agreement that really works for both sides as we, not only build our football team for 2024, but we're trying to do some things to help us sustain for the future as well."
The Vikings have a little more than two weeks before Cousins' contract expires, so even though the NFL Draft isn't until the end of the April, the two sides are on the clock.
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