Kevin SeifertJan 30, 2026, 01:06 PM ET
- Kevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has covered the NFL for over 20 years, joining ESPN in 2008. He was previously a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Times. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
EAGAN, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Friday, a shocking turn following an organization-wide failure to make the playoffs this season.
In a statement, Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf said that Rob Brzezinski, the Vikings' executive vice president of football operations, will run the team's front office through the 2026 draft, after which a search for a new general manager will commence.
In the statement, the Wilfs added: "Following our annual end-of-season organizational meetings over the last several weeks and after careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the team to move forward with new leadership of our football operations. These decisions are never easy. We are grateful for Kwesi's contributions and commitment to the organization over the past four years and wish him and his family the best in the future."
Throughout the season, there was talk about an underlying "tension" in the Vikings' building in league circles, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. One league source told Schefter it had been "ugly" in Minnesota.
The timing was unusual, as Adofo-Mensah had given a postseason news conference on Jan. 13 and had spent this week in Mobile, Alabama, scouting Senior Bowl practices. He is seven months removed from signing what the Vikings called a multiyear contract extension. The team had no immediate comment.
The Vikings had three winning seasons in his four-year tenure, and their .632 winning percentage over that period is tied for the fifth best in the NFL. But the Vikings are 0-2 in the postseason, and Adofo-Mensah's drafts have been among the league's least productive. The team's attempt to draft and develop quarterback J.J. McCarthy without taking a step back competitively failed this season despite a league-high $350 million cash commitment to its 2025 roster.
Adofo-Mensah's draft record was especially spotty, as the Vikings have received only 172 starts from players drafted between 2022 and '25, the second fewest in the league. The Vikings are one of 11 NFL teams that haven't drafted a Pro Bowl player over that time period.
Hired in January 2022, Adofo-Mensah was the only the second general manager of the Wilfs' 20-year tenure as owners. He replaced Rick Spielman, who had joined the organization as vice president of player personnel in 2006 and was promoted to general manager in 2012.
The Vikings charged Adofo-Mensah with overhauling the team's culture, which the Wilfs believed had grown too sterile and tense under Spielman, and changing how decisions were made. A basketball player in his youth and as an undergraduate at Princeton, Adofo-Menah never played football, nor had he coached it. He was the NFL's first general manager with a background primarily in analytics.
A former commodities trader, Adofo-Mensah took an entry-level job as an analytics staffer with the San Francisco 49ers in 2013. He spent seven seasons with the 49ers, rising to the role of director of football research and development, before the Cleveland Browns hired him as vice president of football operations in 2020.
