Tag: Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

5 things immediately on the to-do list for Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

Five things on the to-do list for Adofo-Mensah.

Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is expected to hit the ground running after doing the interview rounds on Thursday. It’s a new era for the Vikings, and that era is being kick-started on the premise that there’s no need for a reboot button in Minnesota.

Most of the championship formula is already on the roster.

The Vikings have one of the best running backs in the league in Dalvin Cook, and their pass rush topped the entire league in sacks before injuries and illness beat them to hell. Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn are an embarrassment of riches at receiver. Tight end Irv Smith Jr. will be healthy and returning next season.

And Kirk Cousins is at least serviceable as a good starting quarterback to rely on in games. Adofo-Mensah could literally be a few moves away from turning things completely around for the Vikings. The 2022 season could look like night and day compared to 2021.

Here are five things for Adofo-Mensah to address right out of the gates.

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Vikings owners put out a statement after Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hiring

Mark and Zygi Wilf release a statement on Vikings new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

There’s a different feeling in the air for the Minnesota Vikings now that the reins of the front office have officially been handed over to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. The newly-hired general manager may or may not be the answer to the team’s prayers, but he’s at least provided hope that he could be.

However, owners Mark and Zygi Wilf are talking with the sort of confidence that he’ll be more than that.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kwesi to the Minnesota Vikings,” Mark said in a statement. “His unique background, variety of experiences, vision for success and leadership presence immediately stood out to us. Kwesi is naturally committed and driven to building the best teams through consensus building and the pursuit of information. We believe he will immediately make us better as a team and organization.”

Zygi followed up those comments by talking about the philosophy of “complimentary football” Adofo-Mensah brings to the table.

It was clearly evident in his work as vice president of football operations for the Cleveland Browns. He essentially helped Browns general manager Andrew Berry take a team on an 18-year playoff drought back to the postseason in 2020.

“Kwesi has a clear philosophy on building a complementary football team,” said Zygi. “His intelligence, progressive mindset and passion for the game, along with his ability to make thoughtful and intentional decisions, provide a tremendous foundation as he leads our football operations.”

It’s important to note the expectations are immediate—as they should be—in Minnesota. I noted this was the best situation in football for an incoming regime because the roster is built to win right away.

And now it’s in Adofo-Mensah’s hands.

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Kwesi Adofo-Mensah makes first comments as Vikings GM

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah makes first comments as Vikings GM

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Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is officially a Minnesota Viking.

The former Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations put out his first statement on Wednesday night after being named general manager of the Vikings organization.

“I am extremely thankful to the Wilf family and Vikings organization for giving me the opportunity to lead our football operations and join this respected franchise,” Adofo-Mensah’s statement said. “There is so much to appreciate about this organization—an existing nucleus of talent on the roster, top-notch facilities, passionate fans and smart people throughout the building who are committed to winning. I look forward to partnering with our next head coach and our entire football operations staff to begin our work of bringing a Super Bowl to Vikings fans.”

There aren’t many close connections with Adofo-Mensah to be confident with guesses as to what direction he’ll ultimately go in when hiring the Vikings’ next head coach.

This is a situation where he’ll have to hit the ground running.

The Vikings are roughly $12 million over the salary cap. Quarterback Kirk Cousins’ contract, which comes due in 2023, has a cap hit of $45 million in the upcoming 2022 season. The defense needs serious work with contracts expiring and things falling apart, following a year where they were ranked as the second-worst unit in the league. There’s also work to be done along the offensive line.

Congratulations are certainly in order for Adofo-Mensah, but I wouldn’t expect any long-winded celebrations in Minnesota, especially when there’s so much to get done.

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Fans react to Vikings hiring Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as GM

Fans react to Vikings hiring Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as GM

It was announced the Minnesota Vikings are hiring Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their next general manager on Wednesday. The decision brings an end to the ongoing search for the candidate best-suited to replace Rick Spielman in the front office.

Adofo-Mensah, the former Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations, did a tremendous job working alongside Browns general manager Andrew Berry to help turn around one of the worst sports franchises at the time.

Before Adofo-Mensah and Berry arrived, the Browns were still facing an 18-year playoff drought.

Of course, the situation in Minnesota is nothing like it was in Cleveland. Sure, the team has missed the playoffs in the last two seasons, but they’ve at least been competitive in recent memory. They also have one of the better rosters in the league.

Adofo-Mensah is a young and enthusiastic candidate that should come into this situation with a lot of energy. The pieces are definitely there for him to do something special with the team. Let’s see what he’s got.

Here’s what fans were saying about the new hire on Wednesday.

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Vikings hire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as GM

The Vikings have their man!

The Minnesota Vikings have finally found the man to lead them into the future. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the vice president of football operations for the Cleveland Browns, will supplant Rick Spielman as the new acting general manager for the Vikings.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the news on Wednesday.

Last Friday, it was announced the team had narrowed the search down to at least two candidates, Kansas City Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles and Adofo-Mensah.

Poles was a standout candidate throughout the process. However, the Chicago Bears also showed significant interest in him as well, and he reportedly accepted the job with them on Tuesday.

With a new GM now in place, the Vikings can finally move forward with the renovation project for a team that has missed the postseason in back-to-back years. The next domino to fall is hiring a head coach to replace the recently fired Mike Zimmer.

Owner/President Mark Wilf said the team would let the new GM have a say in the coaching hire. So it should be interesting with plenty of great candidates out there.

The good news is the Vikings can finally put the disappointment in the rearview and look forward to a brighter future under Adofo-Mensah’s watch.

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Browns Kwesi-Adofo-Mensah hired as Vikings GM

It’s official, the Browns are losing their VP of football operations to the Vikings as he is hired as their new GM:

The Cleveland Browns will lose their vice president of football operations as Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been hired as the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings.

Adofo-Mensah was brought to Cleveland by Andrew Berry in May of 2020 after spending seven years with the San Francisco 49ers front office. Prior to joining the Browns, he focused primarily on research and development for the Niners.

Last year, Adofo-Mensah interviewed with the Carolina Panthers for their GM job and also interviewed for the Chicago Bears position this year.

Once thought of as a dark horse candidate during this front office cycle, Adofo-Mensah was one of two finalist for the Vikings job along with Kansas City’s Ryan Poles. Poles accepted the Bears position on Tuesday.

Cleveland’s VP was considered the favorite in Minnesota even prior to Poles taking the Bears job.

With the Vikings, Adofo-Mensah takes over for Rick Speilman and will help the team hire their next head coach, to replace Mike Zimmer. The team could be at a crossroads as their current core has been competitive but has failed to make the playoffs in the last two years and was last in the NFC Championship game in 2017.

The Browns are expected to receive two compensatory picks as a part of the NFL’s new diversity policy implemented last season.

Top GM candidate Kwesi Adofo-Mensah sleuthing goes next level with Vikings fans

The city is on Kwesi Adofo-Mensah watch.

It’s safe to say there’s some serious excitement in the air with news of top general manager candidate Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in town interviewing for a job with the Minnesota Vikings. You’d think the man was Santa Claus with the way he’s being tracked around the city.

But maybe he is.

Adofo-Mensah is an incredibly smart and talented, young candidate that should breathe life into a situation that had grown a bit stagnant under the previous regime. A few right moves and he could bring back the gift of winning to a deserving fan-base that has watched the Vikings miss the playoffs now for the last two seasons.

It all started when a video appeared of Adofo-Mensah leaving the Vikings’ facility in Eagan. As he exited the building, you can clearly here someone from inside saying, “I’ll cancel your flight, let us know if you need anything.”

You don’t need to be a Sherlock Holmes buff to know that’s a clue that something good came out of the interview. But if you want to get to the root of a story, every good mystery lover knows you have to keep on digging.

And that’s exactly what the Vikings faithful did.

At least one fan called Manny’s Steakhouse in Minneapolis to see if there was a private party being held in the backroom. Oh, yes, Vikings fans have evolved to the point where they know exactly where the fun goes down after a deal has been done.

Move over, Adam Schefter.

A deal does appear to be imminent, if it isn’t already done, between the Vikings and Adofo-Mensah. With Ryan Poles agreeing to join the Chicago Bears on Tuesday, it has essentially cleared the way for the Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations to pick up the reins left in the wake of the firing of Rick Spielman.

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Ryan Poles expected to choose Bears, Vikings now pursuing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as next GM

Vikings are now expected to pursue Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as next GM.

Top general manager candidate Ryan Poles, the Kansas City Chiefs’ executive director of player personnel, is expected to sign with the Chicago Bears over the Minnesota Vikings. That now leaves Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as the frontrunner to land the job with the Vikings.

News broke on Tuesday that the Bears were expected to hire Poles as their next GM, via NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo.

Rapoport followed up by saying the Vikings are “now expected to hire” Adofo-Mensah considering he was the only other finalist opposite of Poles in their search. Assuming everything goes according to plan, it would appear as if the Vikings’ search might finally be nearing an end.

Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf explained that the next GM would have a say in who gets hired as the team’s next head coach.

If Adofo-Mensah is indeed the choice, it’ll be interesting to see who he ultimately decides to bring along for the ride in Minnesota.

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Vikings likely to hire Browns Kwesi Adofo-Mensah at GM

Based on reports, the Browns are likely losing a front office exec to become the Vikings GM:

The Cleveland Browns seem likely to lose Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to the Minnesota Vikings very soon according to multiple reports. As we shared previously, Adofo-Mensah was one of two finalists for the Vikings general manager job and scheduled for a second interview on Tuesday.

Early Tuesday afternoon came word that other Minnesota finalist, Ryan Poles, was expected to be hired for the GM position with the Chicago Bears leaving the Browns executive as the likely hire for the Vikings.

Adofo-Mensah was the favorite for the position even before Poles was reportedly off the market. Just prior to the Poles announcement, I had shared as much on Twitter:

This was later backed up by other reporting.

As of now, Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter are both reporting that Adofo-Mensah will be the new front office lead in Minnesota:

The NFL’s minority candidate hiring rules indicate that Cleveland could be in line for two third-round compensatory picks, one in each of the next two drafts, for losing their VP of football operations. Compensatory picks will be officially confirmed by the NFL later in the offseason.

Fellow Browns executive Glenn Cook also interviewed for both the Bears and Vikings jobs. The Las Vegas Raiders still have their GM position open but there have been no reports of Cook interviewing there.

Browns exec Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Vikings GM finalist, set for second interview

Kwesi is a finalist and his second interview is set in Minnesota for next week:

The Cleveland Browns could be losing a member of their front office this offseason. As we have been covering, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been requested for multiple interviews for general manager jobs in the NFL. Last year, Adofo-Mensah interviewed with the Carolina Panthers.

This year, he has added the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings to that list. Noted as a “sleeper” candidate at the start of the interview process, the Browns VP of football operations is now a primary candidate.

According to multiple reports, the Browns VP is one of two finalists for the top front-office job with the Vikings. First, Tom Pelissero reported the two candidates:

Adam Schefter followed that up with news that the two finalists were due to conduct their second interviews early next week:

If Adofo-Mensah is hired, Cleveland would acquire a third-round compensatory pick in the upcoming 2022 NFL draft and another in the 2023 draft.

Another Browns executive, Glenn Cook, has also interviewed for the Minnesota job but seems to be out of the running.

Cleveland could lose a valued executive but gain valuable draft picks if Adofo-Mensah beats out Ryan Poles for the Vikings GM job. Based on the interview schedule, it is likely Minnesota makes their decision between the two in the near future.