It took Kwesi Adofo-Mensah less than a minute to put every analytics critic in checkmate.
Since signing with the Minnesota Vikings, the first-year general manager has battled the outside noise from those that would paint him as simply the “analytics guy.”
Sure, Adofo-Mensah sees the game differently like every other league executive that’s had the privilege of sitting in his seat, but he isn’t the first—nor will he be the last—general manager to utilize analytics when it comes to making big decisions.
During a sit-down interview with NFL.com, he knocked it out of the park when asked to give a real-world example of how analytics come into play when making a decision.
“Let’s go back a little in time. If you think about a decision that got made by Jimmy Johnson, the Herschel Walker trade, you have a known commodity, this really good player at a position that at a different time in the NFL was extremely valuable versus these potential players,” said Adofo-Mensah. “You’re kind of studying the known versus the unknown, and a lot of times you can do that if you make assumptions using numbers.
“So that is a real-world application of somebody—I don’t know if anybody would call him an analytics person—but he had been very thoughtful and intentional about the known thing versus the unknown thing. And obviously, it worked out for them for a championship level.”
Analytics and data are shaping the game.@Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah talks about the contribution the #BigDataBowl and analytics have made to the @NFL ⬇️
Full conversation: https://t.co/lkLm9A2kcb pic.twitter.com/a89OAPcxf2
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) April 21, 2022
Some would consider it the best trade in NFL history that built the dynasty that would come for the Cowboys in the 1990s.
They shipped a prime Walker to the Vikings for six draft picks and five players, including Issiac Holt, Alex Stewart, Darrin Nelson, Jesse Solomon and David Howard.
The Cowboys used the draft picks to select Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, Darren Woodson and Emmitt Smith. So through the use of numbers, the Cowboys parted ways with one great player to come away with three Pro Bowlers and one of the greatest running backs in NFL history.
It’s obviously a trade Vikings fans want to forget considering the haul they gave up for Walker, who played for them for a couple of years after the midseason trade before signing with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys went on to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span. You don’t have to like the outcome to respect the hustle by Johnson.
Well played, Mr. Adofo-Mensah.
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