The Vikings’ Roster Building Philosophy Should Mirror … Noah’s Ark?

A bit of an odd comparison, at least upon first glance. Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took some time to chat with KFAN’s Paul Allen at the Combine, taking a few moments to unpack the Vikings’ roster building philosophy.

That’s when the Noah’s ark reference gets tossed into the mix.

Per Adofo-Mensah, he likes to “joke that I want our team building to be like a Noah’s ark philosophy.” The GM goes on to unpack what he means: “I believe in building a team built for the seventeen-game attrition of the NFL season. And so that if somebody gets hurt, I wish you would see what’s behind them.”

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah & The Vikings’ Roster Building

Step back into Sunday School for a few minutes (or open your Bible to Genesis; start around Chapter 6).

In Genesis, the opening book of the Bible, God decides to judge the world, destroying (almost) everyone and starting over with Noah’s family. Noah is thus commissioned to build an ark — a huge boat — and then to snag a pair of each kind of animal; the thinking is that once the flood waters go down, Noah’s family and then the animals can repopulate.

In a nutshell, that’s the story. Lots of sinful people, a tremendous flood, Noah builds a massive boat, animals come aboard in pairs.

So, how does that story factor into the GM’s thoughts about building an NFL roster?

The thinking from Adofo-Mensah is that he wants every position to be two-deep. If someone goes down with an injury, then there’s a strong option to jump into the mix to help keep the ship afloat (two animals on the ark, two deep at every position).

Consider, for instance, just some of the moves that Adofo-Mensah made last year before the trade deadline. He shipped out draft capital to welcome running back Cam Akers and left tackle Cam Robinson to town. Doing so helped to fortify the depth, ensuring that there wasn’t too steep of a drop off when Aaron Jones needed to nurse his bumps and bruises or when Christian Darrisaw was lost for the season.

Something similar was going on at edge rusher behind Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel. Having Dallas Turner, Patrick Jones, and Jihad Ward ensured that the drop off wasn’t too steep.

The discussion about being two-deep is taking place from within a broader conversation about draft picks and developing them slowly. Minnesota’s intention, a lot of the time, is to onboard a youngster so that he can function as that No. 2 option without needing to face the pressure of being a starter too early.

If/when the starter goes down, then the young guy will get his shot to show what he’s capable of doing.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah says that “the worst thing you can do to a player is have him play too early and then be judged by that, and then that be a negative thing. And so we’re trying to build this in such a way that players can grow and develop in the right way.” The GM further notes that “our draft board has gotten better.”

The 2025 NFL Draft takes place from April 24 to April 26. The Vikings currently own four draft picks.

K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.