In a stunning move, the Vikings have fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. Adofo-Mensah had been the Vikings’ GM since 2022.
As part of their official statement, the Vikings said: “Following our annual end-of-season organizational meetings over the last several weeks and after careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the team to move forward with new leadership of our football operations. These decisions are never easy. We are grateful for Kwesi’s contributions and commitment to the organization over the past four years and wish him and his family the best in the future.”
Executive vice president Rob Brzezinski will take over for Adofo-Mensah on an interim basis, the team announced. Brzezinski will lead the front office through April’s draft, but the Vikings “intend to conduct a thorough” search for their next GM after that.
The Vikings’ decision to cut ties with Adofo-Mensah comes less than a year after they locked him up to a contract extension last May. The deal prevented Adofo-Mensah from entering 2025 as a lame duck, but the team will now go in another direction after finishing 9-8 and missing the playoffs.
There was “tension” in the Vikings’ building leading up to Adofo-Mensah’s firing, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who hears that it had been “ugly” throughout the season. Jordan Schultz relays similar information, writing “there were relationship issues” at Vikings headquarters.
The Vikings brought in Adofo-Mensah after he divided 2013-21 between San Francisco and Cleveland. He impressed enough over two seasons as the Browns’ vice president of football operations to earn a promotion in Minnesota. With the hiring of head coach Kevin O’Connell three weeks later, Adofo-Mensah checked off his first key task atop the Vikings’ front office. The well-regarded O’Connell remains in place four years later, but he’ll pair with Brzezinski for now before potentially teaming up with a different GM.
The Adofo-Mensah/O’Connell tandem helped the Vikings to a 13-4 mark and an NFC North title in their first season together, though the team suffered a wild-card round upset against the Giants. The Vikings dropped to 7-10 in 2023, after which they allowed longtime starting quarterback Kirk Cousins to walk in free agency.
With Cousins heading to Atlanta on a massive contract worth up to $180MM over four years, the Vikings brought in veteran Sam Darnold on a one-year, $10MM pact and then used the 10th pick in the draft on former Michigan signal-caller J.J. McCarthy. Adofo-Mensah traded up a spot for McCarthy, who went on to miss his entire rookie season with a torn meniscus That didn’t faze Minnesota, where Darnold enjoyed a long-awaited breakout campaign six years after the Jets drafted him third overall. The Vikings posted a tremendous 14-3 record en route to another playoff berth, but they once again lost in the wild-card round.
A couple months after a rough showing in a blowout against the Rams, Darnold signed with the Seahawks on a three-year, $100.5MM deal. The Vikings made a similar offer, and they also tried to re-sign veteran passer Daniel Jones after he ended 2024 in their uniform, but they struck out in both instances. Jones saw a clearer path to playing time in Indianapolis, where he went on to revive his career before tearing his Achilles in early December.
Meanwhile, a Darnold-quarterbacked team finished 14-3 for the second year in a row. The Seahawks are now preparing to face the Patriots in Super Bowl LX after Darnold’s 346-yard, three-touchdown performance in a 31-27 triumph over the Rams in the NFC title game.
After Darnold and Jones slipped through their fingers last March, a season of subpar quarterback play was likely the main culprit in the Vikings’ disappointing 2025. Adofo-Mensah’s big bet on McCarthy hasn’t paid off to this point.
McCarthy battled multiple injuries in his first year at the helm, leading him to miss seven games, and was statistically among the league’s worst QBs when healthy. Journeyman backup Carson Wentz, who was a mixed bag filling in for McCarthy early in the year, required season-ending shoulder surgery in October. Wentz’s injury left undrafted rookie Max Brosmer as McCarthy’s backup for the rest of the year. Brosmer was dreadful over eight appearances and two starts, including a four-interception outing in a 26-0 loss to Darnold’s Seahawks in Week 13.
The Vikings’ lackluster QB performance this season likely played a part in Adofo-Mensah’s ouster, but a poor track record in the draft also didn’t help his cause. As Kevin Seifert of ESPN points out, players the Vikings drafted from 2022-25 have only made 172 starts – the second-lowest total in the league during that span. Furthermore, none of Adofo-Mensah’s picks have gone to the Pro Bowl.
More to come…
Bad day to run a Minnesota sports front office.
Or the Twin Cities in general.
Bruh, what???
What’s going on in Minnesota? Not just the team the state? Had no idea this was the GM???
Is it really stunning? Mediocre drafts and a poorly executed all in plan last off-season had to put his job in some jeopardy.
The timing is.
Not really. The off-season is about to start. It’s not like there was a ton of GM openings and the Vikings missed out on some great future GM. As long as he’s gone before the super bowl, which he is, the timing is fine.
Everybody and their mother was talking up JJ as the real deal going into the season.
How about either initiating, authorizing, letting McConnell talk him into, or being involved in the decision making process regarding moving Darnold out and the untested, injured, and skillset deficient QB kid from Michigan in as a disaster of epic proportions….now they’re more than likely in search of QB options moving forward wasting Jefferson’s best years…p
Whoa. Weird firing and even weirder timing.
Odd timing for sure
Timing is so off. Who fires a GM right before February?
Give the job to KOC and give Flores the head coach spot
I was a fan of Kwesi until PFF broke down his tenure with his draft record, strange drafting decisions, and inability to stabilize QB.
I didn’t think it would happen this offseason, but not completely shocked.
The only :inability to stabilize the QB” question was how involved he was in discarding Darnold in favor of a QB who got the credit when the program and its athletes at Michigan were the reasons for its success…..now they’re in QB Hell and basically as GM the buck stops at his desk….
That’s one of the questions, but it certainly isn’t the only one, IMO. Had he drafted Nix instead of JJ, this might not be a conversation. Had he been able to re-sign Daniel Jones, letting Darnold go may be forgiven (I’d say Jones was outplaying Darnold at the time of injury).
There were lots of ways he could have played QB and, let’s be honest, Darnold isn’t even close to infallible.
Missing Super Bowl Sam
Blowing a first rounder on JJ and bungling the Darnold situation seems like a perfect reason to fire the GM. I’m not sure why anyone is confused
The idea that everybody in the building wasn’t pushing him to draft JJ is beyond hilarious.
Doesn’t matter….he’s the boss and the buck stops at his desk….he reports either to the owner or President of Football Operations….the others “in the building” work for or with him….they have no upwards authority to do anything other than what he wants or desires for the Vikings….
You seem to be forgetting the owner.
It goes beyond just QB, though. Look at the overall draft record.
Everything starts and ends at the QB…..he blew it with JJ who looks like a kid caught in the headlights of being over his head in a game of men…thank God the Giants didn’t draft this loser….
If everything starts and ends at QB, Rodgers would have 8 rings instead of 1, Josh Allen would have a couple titles, Marino and Kelly would each have won, Brees would have more than 1, Peyton would have more than 2, etc. You have to supplement the roster with effective players, period. No QB has ever pulled an awful roster to the Super Bowl.
This seems like a major overreaction. He has done a solid job building that roster.
Look at his draft record. He inherited a solid roster and has made it worse.
2022:
32- Lewis Cine (lasted 1 season, I believe)
44- Andrew Booth (out of the league)
59- Ed Ingram (off roster)
66- Brian Asamoah (off roster)
111- Akayleb Evans (off roster)
165- Esezi Otomewo (off roster)
169- Ty Chandler
184- Vederian Lowe (off roster)
191- Jalen Nailor
227- Nick Muse (out of league)
2023:
23- Jordan Addison
102- Mekhi Blackmon (off roster)
134- Jay Ward
141- Jaquelin Roy (off roster)
164- Jaren Hall (out of league)
222- Dewayne McBride (out of league)
2024:
10- J.J. McCarthy
17- Dallas Turner
108- Khyree Jackson (RIP)
177- Walter Rouse
203- Will Reichard
230- Michael Jurgens
232- Levi Drake Rodriguez
2025:
24- Donovan Jackson
102- Tai Felton (why when Nailor is one of your only successful picks worth extending?)
139- Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins
201- Kobe King (off roster)
202- Gavin Bartholomew (missed entire season)
First the Twins, now the Vikings? What’s going on in Minnesota? Was Tom Homan involved?
No but you can bet your ass Walz was….lol
Bill Guerin is next
I remember seeing somewhere that Head Coach Kevin O’Donnell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s relationship went sour and they were no longer really speaking to each other , so this news didn’t surprise me that much. My guess is that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was not getting along with a bunch of people and the owner decided Adofo-Mensah was the problem and he needed to go…like now.
A learing experience
Thanks from Seattle! We couldn’t have made the Super Bowl without you!
Yikes