Former Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will return to the San Francisco 49ers, general manager John Lynch told reporters at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Adofo-Mensah will be rehired by the 49ers in a personnel executive role that will be formalized after the NFL draft, Lynch said.
Vikings ownership fired Adofo-Mensah on Jan. 30 after four seasons — and just eight months after he signed a multiyear contract extension. He will return to the 49ers, where he began his NFL career as a quantitative analyst in 2013. The move will save the Vikings some money as Adofo-Mensah had offset language in his former Vikings contract, according to a league source.
Adofo-Mensah’s duties in San Francisco grew to directing the team’s football research and helping shape the hiring process in 2017 that eventually landed on Lynch, the GM, and head coach Kyle Shanahan; the duo are currently tied for the longest-tenured GM and head coach pairing in the NFL along with the Los Angeles Rams’ Les Snead and Sean McVay and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Brett Veach and Andy Reid (McVay and Veach were also hired in 2017).
Co-owner Mark Wilf, after Adofo-Mensah’s tenure in Minnesota came to an end, said the Vikings “felt a change was necessary” after judging his “body of work” over four seasons. The team watched quarterback Sam Darnold win a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks earlier this month after leaving the Vikings as a free agent a year ago. Adofo-Mensah’s draft record was also poor. The Vikings might not sign any of his 2022 draft picks to a second contract if wide receiver Jalen Nailor goes elsewhere next month.
Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.
