Wilfs made real racial progress by hiring Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as GM

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah won the news conference.

The Wilfs won the day.

Introduced as the Minnesota Vikings' new general manager on Thursday, Adofo-Mensah instantly became one of the most impressive and personable sports figures you'll encounter.

As for the Wilfs, owners of the Vikings, they made good on their promise to run an inclusive search and dismiss the kind of traditional thinking that usually leads to a traditional personnel expert becoming GM.

Adofo-Mensah is as nontraditional as any general manager in NFL history. That makes hiring him risky. The Wilfs should be applauded for taking this risk.

They could have played it safe, promoting from within or hiring someone with a deeper resume and more recognizable name.

Instead, they proved open-minded enough to hire a former walk-on college basketball player who worked on Wall Street and planned to become an economics professor before venturing into football.

Adofo-Mensah will be judged on performance and will be subject to the same criticism as any other Vikings general manager. Before the second-guessing and recriminations begin, let's celebrate this day in Vikings history, and thank the Wilfs.

When Kevin Warren was their COO, he was the highest-ranking Black person working on the business side of an NFL team.

Adofo-Mensah becomes the first Black person to work solely as the Vikings' general manager, although Dennis Green played that role for part of his coaching tenure.

Smart money has Adofo-Mensah and the Wilfs hiring a Black coach, whether it be someone like the very-young DeMeco Ryans or more like the very-experienced Jim Caldwell.

What we usually see from the NFL is league-wide lip service to social justice and racial equality, and individual teams mysteriously winding up with Black candidates as runners-up to white candidates when the hirings are announced.

The Rooney Rule has become as ridiculous as end-zone stencils saying "End Racism" in a league that banned Colin Kaepernick for kneeling.

Racial progress isn't a quaint aspiration. It requires action. Either you hire candidates of color, or women, or you don't.

Credit the Wilfs for putting their mores where their mouths are.

Credit them, too, for realizing that the NFL they grew up watching needs to change.

Not every leader should look like Bill Parcells, or rely on a reference from Bill Parcells.

Former GM Rick Spielman was old-school NFL in so many ways, from his scouting and playing background to his uptight, tight-lipped persona. Adofo-Mensah is un-tight.

Adofo-Mensah's resume is an outlier. Everything he knows about football he learned while working for an NFL team.

"A lot of times an impediment to learning is trying to affirm what you already think, not being open-minded," he said on Thursday. "If I'm going to be around great ones, I'm going to listen to everything they say."

Adofo-Mensah cried during the news conference when talking about his mother. He spoke of skipping around his home after his interview with the Vikings. At the news conference and later, when he met informally with the Minnesota media contingent, he displayed a disarming combination of humility, curiosity, intelligence and charm.

He isn't afraid to be viewed as human. That characteristic isn't shared by a lot of NFL bosses.

Spielman damaged his own reputation by being inaccessible, robotic and manipulative. What Adofo-Mensah and the Wilfs seem to understand is that this is one of the most visible jobs in Minnesota. While winning trumps all else, handling this very public position with grace should be important to everyone who cares about the team's brand.

Adofo-Mensah, 40, will have to prove himself, like every other general manager, but should be given a long time to do so.

He inherits a roster filled with highly paid veterans, injury concerns, salary cap restrictions and a problematic quarterback with a problematic salary.

Sunday's NFL conference title games feature three star quarterbacks who were first-round draft picks, and a second-rounder who was acquired by trade.

If Adofo-Mensah can become the first Vikings' GM since Jim Finks to find a long-term solution at the quarterback position, his winning personality will become merely a bonus.