The Minnesota Vikings opted for a full organizational reset this offseason.
That meant firing head coach Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman and starting fresh.
Moves are starting to be made as Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been hired as the new GM.
Vikings hired Browns’ VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their general manager, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 26, 2022
He was poached away from the Cleveland Browns organization and shows up ready to hire a new head coach and also figure out what to do with Kirk Cousins.
His hiring is big news as the Vikings move in a new direction.
The NFL world is reacting in a variety of ways to the change in leadership for the Vikings.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah seems super-smart, at least according to his CV. No idea if he'll be good at the whole GM thing but I like smart people.
— Daniel NHS (@DanielNHS1) January 26, 2022
NFL World Reacts To Vikings GM News
Head coaches often show up with a ton of name recognition.
The same is not always true for GMs and a lot of reaction has to do with people simply not knowing Adofo-Mensah’s name.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah- pic.twitter.com/UwEcsj8dUW
— Sherry Brown (@Sherry4514) January 26, 2022
So a lot of people don’t like Kwesi Adofo-Mensah because of his lack of experience in football.. we have never won a SB. Maybe it’s time for a different perspective. I love this hire.
— Afro Moss (@YouGotMossd) January 26, 2022
Anybody in here or elsewhere that claims to know anything about how good a hire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is for the Vikings as GM is deceiving their audience. Is he a good hire? We do not know. Is he a bad hire? We do not know.
— Nick (@CsbRRG) January 26, 2022
Adofo-Mensah has a financial background and is a unique hire, showing teams around the NFL are ready to embrace a more analytics-based approach.
Change may be what the Vikings need considering they have not been to a Super Bowl since the 1976 season.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will bring a head coach that will be here for 8+ years, draft a franchise QB, and bring a Super Bowl trophy to Minnesota. #SKOL
— Chris W (@chibitheballa) January 26, 2022
As the first analytics staffer to be hired as a GM, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah really has the potential to be a seachange for the NFL.
The two biggest roadblocks to analytics usage in the NFL are buy-in from decisionmakers and staffing/resources. Obviously, that's about to change in MN.
— Nick Olson (@NickOlsonNFL) January 26, 2022
I believe Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is the first man to transition from commodities trading to general managing.
— The Shotgun and the Briefcase (@MickEnglewood) January 26, 2022
His first order of business is hiring a new head coach.
The organization has been conducting interviews and Adofo-Mensah surely shared his favorites during his own interview process.
After that task is completed, he gets to sit down and figure out if the team should keep Cousins or start calling around for trades.
He is inheriting a team with plenty of questions, but that does mean he can mold it the best way he sees fit.
I know this has been mentioned by a few people already, but Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was a member of the #49ers in 2013 and 2014 when Jim Harbaugh was SF’s head coach
Just saying…
— Adam Patrick (@Str8_Cash_Homey) January 26, 2022
The Vikings have made a bit of an unorthodox hire that may just put them ahead of the rest of the NFL.
It also marks arguably the first time ever a team has gone to Cleveland’s front office to find a great candidate.
NEXT: Vikings Still Have One More Major Decision To Make