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News | Minnesota Vikings – vikings.com

Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Discuss Jordan Addison Incident

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EAGAN, Minn. — Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell and General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Monday expressed their disappointment with Jordan Addison's arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence earlier this month in California.

"We're disappointed in Jordan. We care about these players. We really do, and we want to make sure we're doing our part for the development on the field," O'Connell said. "The other aspect of that is the off-the-field and the life skills and the development of decision making and learning how important it is, you know, within our culture that we're very proud of, that our players understand personal responsibility and accountability.

"You wrap your arms around these guys and you ensure that they know that we care, but at the same time, they have to hear those messages and they have to understand things that are not going to be acceptable by any stretch, and we've got to continue [utilizing] the resources we do have as an organization," O'Connell said. "How Kwesi and I have really tried to build our locker room and our team, I think it's really important that the discipline side of things is an accountability — personal responsibility. Those are things we will talk about, and I will personally talk about with Jordan, but at the same time there's going to be a continuing legal process playing out in the NFL."

Adofo-Mensah added he believes Jordan is also disappointed in himself.

"He holds himself to a high standard, was raised by a great family. He knows the types of behaviors he needs to do to be the best version of himself, and he's let himself down in that regard," Adofo-Mensah said. "Using words like discipline and different things like, we don't really talk about it like that inside these walls. Inside these walls, it's about designing for the outcome we want. The outcome we want is for Jordan to be the best version of himself on the field and off the field. And he's bought into that same exact thing."

O'Connell was asked about Addison potentially missing game action and said, "we'll adapt and be flexible with our plans."

"With most of these situations around the league, it's normally an NFL player conduct thing where a process plays out over a period of time," O'Connell said. "The legal process is still playing out, as well, so we'll let those things happen and work off that accordingly."

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