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From the outside looking in, the Vikings' draft a couple weeks ago unfolded with a flurry of deals that led to some puzzlement.
Inside the Vikings' room, however, it unfolded pretty much how new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell wanted it to unfold.
That's the overall takeaway from a 20-minute video the Vikings posted on Thursday, with much of it being a behind-the-scenes look inside the draft process.
Here are five specific things I gleaned from watching the footage, which you can find here.
1 We see a lot of different faces and hear a lot of difference voices inside the Vikings' draft room. While Adofo-Mensah is the central character in the footage, the narrative of collaboration — a big part of what we've heard since the new regime took over — was again being emphasized.
"I want to make sure that when we make decisions I do it in a way that honors all the work that is done," Adofo-Mensah said.
2 The trade with the Lions that puzzled a lot of us was a "home run" the Vikings "dreamt" about, Adofo-Mensah said as it came together.
O'Connell explained on the video to Vikings owners and Mark and Zygi Wilf that the Vikings thought the best value in the draft was from the end of the first round through pick 77, which is why they traded down to accumulate more picks in that range.
3 The Vikings were sweating it out near the end of the first round before they were able to take safety Lewis Cine, with Adofo-Mensah letting out a significant exhale when the Bengals picked a different safety — Daxton Hill of Michigan.
We see the Vikings hoping for "an upset" somewhere in the late first round and reacting to a surprise pick (quite possibly New England reaching for guard Cole Strange at 29.
4 The personality of Adofo-Mensah comes through big-time in the production. At the start of the draft, he's milling around and mutters to himself in a sing-song voice, "Why is nobody calling your boy Kwes?"
At other points, Adofo-Mensah tells another team's executive "hit me on the bat phone" and says the Vikings are "living dangerously today, baby."
In combination with some of his music preferences sprinkled it, it gives the effect of "our GM is cooler than your GM." And it's probably true.
5 The relationship between Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell also shows in the video. Not only do they seem to be on the same page football-wise, but Adofo-Mensah even teases O'Connell about how fans might have reacted had the Vikings traded back again out of the first round.
"All the love we built up would just come crashing down," Adofo-Mensah jokes. "I trusted you, Kevin. I trusted, you."
