Thoughts on the Vikings Firing GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

In a surprise move, at least in terms of the timing, the Minnesota Vikings fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Friday after four years on the job. He had been given a contract extension just last May following the draft, but after an additional year to evaluate, according to Vikings president and co-owner Mark Wilf, the Vikings decided they didn’t want Adofo-Mensah making the key personnel decisions in free agency and the draft in what Wilf described as a critical off-season for the Vikings.

Based on Mark Wilf’s comments, the decision to fire Adofo-Mensah hinged on the decisions he made over the past nine months, or perhaps more likely the results of the decisions. It may also be that the last year was enough to tip the balance from ownership having confidence in Adofo-Mensah despite a mixed track record, to them losing confidence after a lost season that resulted from Adofo-Mensah’s decision-making.

2025 was a Decision-Making Disaster

The Vikings went all-in during free agency last season, spending the second-most of any team in 2025, believing they were set for a deep run in the playoffs behind quarterback J.J. McCarthy. That roll of the dice came up snake-eyes. As a reference, the Vikings were in the middle of the two Super Bowl teams- the Patriots and Seahawks- in free agent spending last year. The fact that Sam Darnold, who the Vikings let go last year, is now leading his team in the Super Bowl doesn’t help the optics for Adofo-Mensah’s decision-making either.

But at the end of the day, I suspect Adofo-Mensah was fired for two key reasons.

First, he didn’t secure a viable backup/competitor at quarterback in the event McCarthy wasn’t ready or didn’t work out. He had the opportunity with Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and Aaron Rodgers, but he ultimately let all three go in favor of Sam Howell, who was cut at the end of training camp and led to the Vikings picking up Carson Wentz off the couch at the end of August. Darnold, Jones and Rodgers all played for their teams this past season for around $15 million salary cap hits. It’s a dereliction of duty to both spend a ton of money in free agency thinking you’re a contender and not have a solid plan at the most important position in professional sports. But that’s what happened.

Certainly head coach Kevin O’Connell had significant input into the decisions at quarterback, but ultimately how the Vikings allocated their salary cap was Adofo-Mensah’s decision to make.

Second, Adofo-Mensah’s drafting track record has not inspired a ton of confidence and, as Mark Wilf pointed out in his press conference, the Vikings have a lot of draft picks this year- 11 overall including 4 in the first three rounds. Adofo-Mensah’s lackluster track record in the draft has been somewhat offset by more success in free agency, including undrafted free agents, but the key free agent acquisitions last year- Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen, and Will Fries- all underperformed their contracts last season. Ryan Kelly did too due to his injuries and had an injury history as an older player that was a known risk.

The Vikings are now around $40 million over the salary cap for the 2026 season, depending on what the final salary cap number turns out to be, so having a new GM that isn’t tied to Adofo-Mensah’s past decisions may be helpful in getting the Vikings’ salary cap under control. That also means the Vikings won’t be acquiring any high-profile free agents this year, with the possible exception of an affordable quarterback to compete with McCarthy.

The Vikings are also in a situation where they need to be shopping players like Javon Hargrave, T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Addison, and Jonathan Allen ahead of free agency in hope of trading them away for decent compensation. That won’t be easy because all of them arguably underperformed their contracts last season except Addison on his rookie deal. But Addison’s immaturity off-the-field will likely bring additional scrutiny. But to the extent the Vikings can find trade partners, they will likely have even more draft picks at the end of April.

So, when you look at the key tasks the Vikings’ general manager would need to handle in the coming weeks- cleaning up Adofo-Mensah’s all-in 2025 and significant cap overage, picking a large draft class, and having a solid contingency plan at quarterback, why would the Vikings have Adofo-Mensah in charge of all that given his track record and poor decision-making led to this situation?

There really is no basis for it.

Tension Within the Vikings Organization

Adam Schefter reported that there had been “tension” in the Vikings’ building according to league circles this season and that one source said turned ugly. Alec Lewis with The Athletic reported a few months ago some tension last spring around the quarterback decision-making. There is another unconfirmed report that Adofo-Mensah prioritized J.J. McCarthy over Sam Darnold last off-season while Kevin O’Connell preferred Darnold and the Vikings nearly traded McCarthy to the Raiders. There was also some disagreement around drafting McCarthy. The Vikings attempted to move up for Drake Maye, and Adofo-Mensah was reportedly willing to part with three first-round picks and change to do so- which was a significant premium- but the Patriots turned him down.

I don’t know if we’ll ever know for sure what the decision-making was regarding all the various options the Vikings had this time a year ago, and who supported what option(s), but if head coach and general manager are not on the same page regarding the quarterback position, that is a problem for any NFL team.

There was also tension between defensive coordinator Brian Flores and now former assistant head coach Mike Pettine, who retired earlier this year. He said there were disagreements with Flores and that he would take the high road and not discuss them. Pettine moved from the defensive side to the offensive side this past season due to differences with Flores.

I mention all this because the Wilfs also seem to value a general manager that keeps order and lead the organization through adversity and conflicts. Rick Spielman was fired at least in part because he wasn’t able to manage differences with Mike Zimmer and maintain a positive atmosphere, for lack of a better term, within the building. The Wilfs may have begun to conclude that Adofo-Mensah, between his personnel decision-making and how he handled other situations, was losing respect for his leadership within the building.

And with so many key decisions to be made in the coming months, and a growing lack of confidence within the building in Adofo-Mensah’s ability to make them, the Wilfs may have also concluded that it may only create more problems if Adofo-Mensah is the one making them. Adofo-Mensah’s body language in recent months seemed to reflect that lack of confidence, so it may not have been much of a surprise to him when he was let go.

Rob Brzezinski Interim GM

Nobody has more respect or tenure in the Vikings front office than Rob Brzezinski, who was EVP of Football Operations before being named Interim GM. He has been the Vikings’ lead contract negotiator and salary cap guru for over ten years. He is also well respected around the league and has contacts and dealings with every NFL team. That background should serve him well as he is undoubtedly tasked with fixing the Vikings’ salary cap issues and finding trading partners for several veterans on the roster.

“Rob brings tremendous credibility and experience, understands our roster and has the ability to build consensus and rely on the expertise of our personnel and coaches,” – Mark Wilf

Sometimes what ownership extols in a new coach or GM is something that was notably missing in the last coach or GM. That was the case when Mark Wilf introduced Kevin O’Connell and may well have been the case in his comments about Rob Brzezinski. His words “credibility”, “ability to build consensus”, and “rely on the expertise of our personnel and coaches” stand out to me in that regard.

Brzezinski isn’t a scout or talent evaluator, however, so those types of decisions will fall on the current scouts and assistant GMs Ryan Grigson and Demitrius Washington, both of whom are Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hires. Presumably both are at risk of being replaced once a new general manager is named following the NFL draft at the end of April. There isn’t enough time to conduct a search and hire a new GM that can also be prepared to conduct a crucial draft for the Vikings, let alone a new scouting staff.

Of course the Vikings will also lean heavily on their coaching staff in evaluating talent, both on the pro side and potential draft picks. I’m also curious if recently extended defensive coordinator Brian Flores is tasked with more of a role in the personnel/scouting area, given his background in scouting with the Patriots, at least on an interim basis. We’ll see.

J.J. McCarthy’s Future More Tenuous

If it is true that Kevin O’Connell wanted to prioritize Sam Darnold over J.J. McCarthy last year, which may have been the case- O’Connell seemed more disappointed to lose Kirk Cousins too- then McCarthy may have lost his biggest backer in the Vikings’ organization in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. A new GM will not be tied to the decision to draft McCarthy #10 overall and may also be unwilling to make McCarthy the presumed starter this off-season either. It probably doesn’t make sense to trade McCarthy at this point- I can’t imagine he carries much trade value now given his injury and performance history- but his status as a #10 overall pick will no longer carry the weight it once did in determining the quarterback depth chart. Two of the more likely possibilities for the Vikings as a veteran acquisition are Malik Willis and Mac Jones. At this point it seems unlikely that McCarthy would beat out either one for the starting job in a competitive situation this offseason. That could put McCarthy on the extended development track as a backup.

The Vikings also are likely to have interest in Anthony Richardson, who apparently they were interested in moving up to draft in 2023. Richardson was always thought to have a Josh Allen type ceiling but only had one season as a starter in college. He’s still only 23. The Colts seem likely to move on from Richardson this off-season, although he has one year left on his rookie contract.

Final Thoughts

Jeremy Fowler reports that as an analytics GM with a background as a Wall Street veteran rather than a former football player, he never really fit in with the more traditional football guys inside the Vikings’ building. And so, when his approach and perspective didn’t yield results, his credibility was pretty well shot. And with that, his ability to lead the organization.

The decision, or series of decisions, to prioritize an unproven J.J. McCarthy, which led Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones to sign elsewhere and to not make Aaron Rodgers an offer, was the biggest mistake of Adofo-Mensah’s tenure with the Vikings. Going all-in on other free agent signings while not having a proven starter at quarterback was unnecessarily risky, given the quarterbacks the Vikings could have signed.

But Adofo-Mensah was sold on the idea of drafting a franchise quarterback on a rookie contract and building around him. Get it right and the team will flourish. But in doing so, he didn’t consider that a former bust who flourished, even though he was only supposed to be a bridge quarterback, might also get you where you want to go. And he didn’t give enough credence to the fact that at least half of all first-round quarterbacks don’t work out for the team that drafted them.

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

There’s analytics in that.

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