Minnesota Vikings are making two crucial hires in the front office to help Nolan Teasley, and it’s reminiscent of Mike Zimmer
Within two weeks of being hired, Minnesota Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley has made significant additions to the front office.
Friday night brought a bombshell that Minnesota Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley had hired two assistant general managers in Andrew Healy of the Cleveland Browns and Trent Kirchner of the Seattle Seahawks. His hiring trend has continued on Tuesday by hiring former Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace, along with Seahawks scout Azzaam Kapadia.
Nolan Teasley is hiring in a very smart way
There are a multitude of reasons to hire someone in the front office. The main one is talent and ability. Everyone who gets hired in a front office has that. That’s what the Vikings are getting in Kapadia. He was hired out of college at the University of Virginia with the Seahawks as an intern in 2023 and worked his way up to being a pro scout in May of 2025. He’s a widely respected scout who gets another promotion.
The real intrigue here is with the hiring of Pace. He was the general manger of the Bears from 2015-2021 before being let go. He was responsible for multiple interesting moves, including the Khalil Mack trade, and the selections of quarterbacks Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields.
The Bears had success early in his tenure, nearly getting a first-round bye with 13 wins in 2018. Unfortunately, neither Trubisky, nor Fields turned out, and it led to his departure. However, he is responsible for multiple successful draft picks throughout his tenure.
- 2015: S Adrian Amos
- 2016: EDGE Leonard Floyd, C Cody Whitehair, DT Jonathan Bullard, RB Jordan Howard
- 2017: S Eddie Jackson, RB Tarik Cohen
- 2018: LB Roquan Smith, C James Daniels
- 2019: RB David Montgomery
- 2020: TE Cole Kmet, CB Jaylon Johnson, S Trevis Gipson, CB Kindle Vildor, WR Darnell Mooney
Those players helped keep the Bears competitive, despite issues across the board at quarterback. They switched to another Ryan in Ryan Poles and are now on a fascinating trajectory with Caleb Williams.
The addition of Pace, along with keeping Ryan Grigson, isn’t just having multiple Ryan’s on the staff. Teasley is making sure he has general manager experience in the building to help him navigate how to maneuver through the job responsibilities. That is a smart move by Teasley, and something that former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer did when he hired the likes of Norv Turner, Tony Sparano, and Pat Shurmur early in his tenure.
Will it end up catapulting the Vikings to never-before-seen heights? Only time will tell, but the process is good.
