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:
I'm hearing Kwesi is the front runner for the Vikings job… Interview is today
— Jared Mueller (@JaredKMueller) January 25, 2022
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 #Vikings are now expected to work to hire #Browns executive Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their next GM, sources say. He’s the final finalist and they have been interviewing him again.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 25, 2022
The two finalists for the Vikings’ GM job were the Browns’ VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Chiefs’ executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles. With Poles expected to be in Chicago, Adofo-Mensah now is the favorite to become the Vikings’ GM.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 25, 2022
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.