To the surprise of many, the Vikings fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Friday. However, the move didn’t come as a shock to Adofo-Mensah, who “was not blindsided by this,” Jeremy Fowler of ESPN says. Adofo-Mensah somewhat expected to take the fall after a 9-8 season that did not include a playoff berth, though the Vikings waited almost a month to pull the trigger.
It took the Vikings 26 days after their season finale to hand Adofo-Mensah his walking papers. Owner Mark Wilf explained why on Friday, telling reporters he wanted to avoid a “knee-jerk” reaction and take a “methodical” approach (via Kevin Seifert of ESPN).
Multiple reports on Friday pointed to a tense atmosphere in Minnesota during Adofo-Mensah’s last season on the job. There may have been a rift between Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell, whom the GM hired four years ago, but Wilf claims there wasn’t disharmony in the building.
“We are in touch with everyone in the building, sensing the dynamic, how people work together. I think, again, it’s a good collaborative situation,” he said. “People get along here. Everything was good. It’s strictly a professional decision on where we think the dynamic was best going forward.”
Moving on from Adofo-Mensah was “100% ownership”-driven and about the GM’s full “body of work,” declared Wilf, who tabbed executive vice president Rob Brzezinski to lead the Vikings’ front office through the draft. Wilf said the Vikings will consider a promotion to GM for Brzezinski, but they’ll conduct a “thorough” post-draft search before naming Adofo-Mensah’s replacement.
While Wilf is leaning toward giving the next GM power over personnel decision-making, he expects O’Connell to provide “extremely heavy input.” With O’Connell considered one of the game’s top coaches, that isn’t a surprise. Although Minnesota has gone 0-2 in the playoffs under O’Connell, its .632 winning percentage since he took over in 2022 is tied for the fifth-best mark in the NFL.
Poor quarterback play, mostly from 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, undermined the Vikings’ chances in 2025. McCarthy grabbed the reins after the Vikings lost veteran signal-callers Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones in free agency last March. After carrying his 2024 Minnesota breakout to Seattle this season, Darnold is preparing for Super Bowl LX against the Patriots. Jones had an impressive season with the Colts before tearing his Achilles in early December.
It may be too early to write off the 23-year-old McCarthy. For now, though, he looks like yet another draft miss for Adofo-Mensah, who traded up a spot to pick the former Michigan starter 10th overall. McCarthy’s struggles so far are especially damning with Darnold a week away from playing for a Lombardi Trophy.
Another draft trade – the 2022 deal that delivered wide receiver Jameson Williams to NFC North rival Detroit – also looks like a black mark on Adofo-Mensah’s resume, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes. The Vikings traded the 12th and 46th picks to the Lions for Nos. 32, 34 and 66. The Lions spent the 12th pick on Williams and the 46th choice on defensive end Josh Paschal. Paschal hasn’t been a difference-maker, but Williams is fresh off his second straight 1,000-yard season. Meanwhile, the Vikings used their first pick that year on former Georgia defensive back Lewis Cine, who didn’t last long with them after fracturing his leg in his rookie season. Cine is now a member of the United Football League.
Of the 10 players Adofo-Mensah drafted in his inaugural class, only fifth-round running back Ty Chandler and sixth-round receiver Jalen Nailor are still with the Vikings. Neither has risen above role player status, and the same is true of most of the picks Adofo-Mensah made during his four-year tenure. None of his selections have made the Pro Bowl to this point.
Adofo-Mensah, a former commodities trader who never played or coached football, started off in the NFL as a manager of research and development for the 49ers in 2013. He rose up to become the Browns’ vice president of football operations from 2020-21 before the Vikings chose him to replace former GM Rick Spielman. As an analytics-based hire who didn’t come with a traditional football background, Adofo-Mensah “was never truly accepted [in Minnesota] from day one,” sources told Fowler.
Based on how many average players get a Pro Bowl nod these days, not having a single player drafted as a Pro Bowler is a clear sign that scouting talent was not a strong trait.
Really?! Not 1 geesh
Goofy way to judge talent. Are Jefferson and Addison less talented because they didn’t make this Pro Bowl?
@Ooof- I believe he’s referring to the stat that not a single player Mensah has drafted has made a pro bowl, and given how the low the barometer is to make one these days, that’s a bit telling. His 2022 and 2023 drafts are looking exceptionally poor at this point.
Yeah, the drafts have not been pretty. But that also makes the late firing even stranger. New GMs are working with a lot of draft scouts, personnel, and information from the previous regime during their first draft most of the time anyway, because there’s only so much you can turn all that stuff over, let alone develop a new system, between mid-January and the draft. Some teams don’t even have GMs yet and the scouting busy season is underway already. If his drafting is the reason you’re firing him, waiting to give him the boot until the Senior Bowl and the Shrine Bowl are happening is even more bizarre.
I agree the timing of the firing is weird, but by internally promoting instead of going outside the organization, it will be essentially the same regime, keeping the continuity in place. I suspect KOC will have a lot more pull, too.
I guess he should have fired his scouts? No NFL GM is heading up their own scouting departments. I think winning enough to land in the back half of the draft but not enough to win is the death sentence in the NFL. You are better off winning three games than you are 9 or 10
As an analytics-based hire who didn’t come with a traditional football background, Adofo-Mensah “was never truly accepted [in Minnesota] from day one,”
Another example of the closed minded thinking in the NFL. The league is heavily biased. They don’t want non conformists or contrarians. Even the criminals they allow in the league are expected to confine themselves to drug, weapons and sexual assault charges.
There are successful personnel guys that “never played or coached football.”
He got his shot and a chance to affect the bias you speak of. Didn’t do much to change it though.
Unfortunately his lack of success will only result in the bias being entrenched even deeper in the NFL mindset. It can take decades or longer for some of these biases to perish.
It’s not too crazy to think that a non-football guy wouldn’t be accepted by football people. Those people have reason to think having some relevant experience is necessary.
I’m curious what everyone thinks of FB analytics. As more of a baseball fan, they feel vitally important. But the FB side of me appreciates measuring strength, speed, quickness, etc., my feeling is desire and processing speed are at least as important.
KAM should have drafted Hamilton he was very highly rated. Sometimes the obvious choice is just that, obvious. KAM & koc both think they’re smarter than everybody else. I am glad the owners are expecting more. I had hoped koc would get fired. He had JMc pass 40 times against the Ravens when the team was getting 6+ ypc. Poor coaching!
Somalian pirates weeeee
KAMs drafting was just horrible and when you couple that with seeing your former QB in the Super Bowl and having made a trade with a division rival that landed them an impact player, you deserve to lose your job. Sure, you can say it was rhe scouts that picked rhe players because KAM didn’t have a football background but it was his scouting staff and his responsibility. If you gotta pick between your GM with his horrible track record and your HC who has the 5th best winning percentage in the NFL since getting hired, your choice is pretty stinking easy. Any criticism of O’Connell is rather unwarranted. He’s what’s made this team successful the past few years. Sure he’s made mistakes but what head coach hasn’t? And being 3 weeks into their off-season before letting your GM go isn’t a big deal. Doing that for your coach is suicide but there’s no shortage of excellent personnel men out there available still.
A bird in the hand.
Could have resigned or tagged Darnold and then traded McCarthy for a haul when he still had mystery prospect sheen on him and set the team up for the next half decade or more.
And in that situation if Darnold wound up continuing to play like he did at the end of last year and JJM looked good wherever he went Kwesi would have still been fired and everyone would be clowning on him for giving up a 22 year old guy with massive upside to keep Sam Darnold.
Second guessing decisions that made sense at the time is a losing proposition.
If the Wilf’s and Vikings fans are upset about Darnold in the Super Bowl, how PO’d should Falcons fans be seeing both coaches who were passed over in deference to RahMo.
I get their peaceless, queasy feeling
There’s no fall out. It’s a praise the Lord moment!! This guy knows as much about football as the smell of the number 9 sounds like.