Less than nine months after giving General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah a contract extension, the Vikings fired him on Friday, Jan. 30, triggering another major shift in their front office four years after they brought in Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell.
Though Adofo-Mensah had continued to work through the first weeks of the Vikings’ offseason after the team missed the playoffs with a 9-8 record, ownership deliberated over a change following the team’s end-of-season meetings. Adofo-Mensah was at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., this week scouting prospects for the upcoming NFL draft, but Vikings owners made the move on Friday morning.
Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski will lead the front office through the draft. The Vikings will search for a permanent GM through the next few months, but they are unlikely to reach a prompt final decision with draft preparation already in full swing.
“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,” Vikings owners Mark Wilf and Zygi Wilf wrote in a joint statement. “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.”
The Vikings had signed Adofo-Mensah to a contract extension last May, months after they had given O’Connell a new deal that runs through the 2029 season. But sources said there was tension in the organization, particularly over the team’s mediocre draft results that had forced the Vikings to build a veteran roster that will face significant salary cap issues even with a young quarterback in J.J. McCarthy.
The Wilfs place a high value on their decisionmakers sharing aligned values, particularly after the relationship between GM Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer eroded in the final years of the prior regime. The friction that had developed in the team’s football operation led the Wilfs to make the surprising move six weeks before the start of free agency and three months before the draft.
The team went 43-25 in Adofo-Mensah’s four seasons, but it missed the playoffs by a half-game this year after a disappointing season that began with lofty expectations following a surprising 14-3 record in 2024.
J.J. McCarthy, whom the Vikings drafted 10th overall in 2024, also struggled in his first season as the starting quarterback, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns while missing all or part of seven games because of different injuries. The Vikings let Sam Darnold leave for Seattle in free agency, rather than placing the franchise tag on him or signing the quarterback to an extension. But they believed they could bring Daniel Jones back as a veteran complement to McCarthy. When Jones left for Indianapolis in free agency, the Vikings had no stable insurance policy for McCarthy.
