The Minnesota Vikings hit the reset button in the front office after another disappointing season under the Rick Spielman era by hiring first-year general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Just from the interviews alone, Adofo-Mensah is a shrewd operator and incredibly well-spoken with a willingness to take in other opinions before making decisions. NFL Network’s Peter Schrager had an opportunity to meet with him at the NFL Combine last week and admitted to being “blown away” by his handling of things.
“One team I was really interested in—I said that last week before the combine, like I don’t know what we’re getting from this team moving forward based on how things ended the last couple of years,” Schrager said on Good Morning Football. “What I learned at the combine is that the Vikings are in very good hands with their new leadership. …I took some time on combine weekend to get to know their new general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, and I was blown away by this guy—blown away by this guy. And I think the Vikings are in very good hands.”
Change is a welcome addition to a Vikings team that has missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
Adofo-Mensah, who cut his teeth on the research and development side of things, brings a different perspective to the job. Yes, analytics will be used as a tool for the Vikings moving forward, but that’s just one part of an overarching goal to be an organization that makes collaborative decisions in a unified manner.
That’s something the team hasn’t had in quite some time with all of the alleged in-fighting between Spielman and former head coach Mike Zimmer.
At the very least, the Vikings appear to be on to bigger and better things with Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell at the helm.