Minnesota Vikings decision to fire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah raises serious questions, and it started with a positive first step

The firing wasn’t a massive surprise, but how it went down certainly was.

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center.

Well, it took a little bit longer for the Minnesota Vikings to make the decision, but they fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Friday afternoon.

Moving on from Adofo-Mensah isn’t a huge surprise, even with the 43-25 record. The results haven’t been up to par for the NFL Draft, and it’s not good enough. Even though it was a factor in the decision, co-owner Mark Wilf made it clear that it wasn’t a singular decision.

“It’s not about any one decision or move,” Wilf said just hours after the move was announced. “We looked at the situation cumulatively. We just didn’t feel confident going through the entirety of the off season an additional draft and free agency. With this structure, we have an urgency to create a winning football team and establish sustainable success for our fans. At the same time, we balance that urgency with all decisions thoroughly and methodically winning football. That’s what drives all our decision making and is the core of all our efforts.”

The timing of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s firing is a bit dubious

One thing that has been well respected about the Wilf’s as the Vikings’ owners is their transparency. They didn’t have to hold a 20 minute press conference within two hours of the announcement, but they did. It’s how they operate and have been that way since they became the owners in 2005.

The odd timing of the decision is one of the reasons why they are a great ownership group: they were very deliberate in gathering all the information.

“Well, like I said, the most important thing was getting this decision right. And we like to be methodical about all this,” said Wilf. “We had our season long, season ending meetings, and really took deep dive look at not just any one thing, but over the past few years. We wanted to make sure we got the decision right.

“We talked to all the stakeholders, all the people involved in our football operations, and and we really came to this decision in a methodical way, and that’s the way went about it, because this is about our long term success. We have a we have a strong basis and foundation here in this organization. And want to make sure what positions us going forward to maximize our ability to strive and compete.”

Even so, taking this long to come to a decision about the general manager position considering how important the Senior Bowl is doesn’t make a lot of sense. If you were even considering firing Adofo-Mensah just a little bit, why would you let him represent you in Mobile at the Senior Bowl? That decision feels very counter intuitive toward building long-term success within the organization.

Minnesota Vikings make smart choice regarding general manager

The decision to move on from Adofo-Mensah was one they didn’t take lightly, but it’s now about the future. In removing Adofo-Mensah from the general manager role, they have named executive vice president-football operations Rob Brzezinski as the interim general manager. Wilf said they won’t be making any more changes.

“There will be no further moves on that front,” said Wilf about different personnel changes. “And like I said, we have tremendous confidence in coach [Kevin] O’Connell, our coaching staff and our entire football operations and scouting and evaluation team.”

Having Brzezinski take over as the general manager gives the Vikings a clear path forward until after the NFL Draft, and it prevents the Vikings from adding a new voice to the room. That was arguably one of the reasons why the 2022 NFL Draft was such a disaster, as Adofo-Mensah was running Rick Spielman’s scouting department and draft board. Things changed significantly over the next three NFL Drafts once Adofo-Mensah got his scouring processes in place, but it wasn’t enough.

With the confidence Wilf has, maybe a different voice in the room is enough to change the success for the Vikings. Brzezinski could be the permanent voice, but we won’t know that for sure until after the NFL Draft is over.

Did the Vikings make the right decision? Only time will tell.

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