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Brzezinski Wants MN Vikings GM Job; Wilfs Hire Search Firm
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- Brzezinski Wants MN Vikings GM Job; Wilfs Hire Search Firm
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Vikings have navigated the 2026 NFL offseason with interim general manager and longtime team executive Rob Brzezinski running the show. Unfortunately (or maybe not) for Rob, we won’t be able to judge his offseason acumen until it’s too late.
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By the time the Vikings wade through the 2026 regular season waters, and we can begin to accurately judge Brzezinski’s offseason in-charge, the Wilfs will have long since chosen the team’s next general manager.
Of course, if our longtime team executive lands the job, 2026 will go down as his first of (hopefully) many, and he will be judged on it accordingly. However, should the Vikings go another direction, we won’t know if they made a mistake until years down the road.
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Minnesota Vikings hiring search firm for GM search
On Wednesday, though, we got some answers on how the MN Vikings GM search will operate. In fact, we even have one confirmed candidate with interest in the job. More on that momentarily.
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First, this morning, the Minnesota Vikings released a statement relaying some information on how their GM search will play out. The biggest takeaway was their hiring of a search firm ( TurnkeyZRG) to assist them with this hiring endeavor.
STATEMENT FROM MARK AND ZYGI WILF
Eagan, Minn. (April 29, 2026) — With the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft, our search for the next general manager of the Minnesota Vikings is underway. This will be a thorough and deliberate process led by ownership, with support from a small internal advisory committee of senior leaders.
We have also engaged respected firm TurnkeyZRG to assist in conducting a wide-ranging search that includes experienced football executives, emerging candidates and individuals with diverse professional backgrounds. Our focus is to identify a decisive leader with a clear vision for team building, strong communication skills and the ability to build alignment across an organization. Out of respect for all involved, we do not intend to publicly announce candidates and will provide further comment when the search is complete.
Mark Wilf said last month that he anticiapted using a "third party" to cull the list of candidates to a workable number. That's what Turnkey will do. I expect 2 of the key members of the advisory committee to be COO Andrew Miller and coach Kevin O'Connell. https://t.co/RexKcRaJgQ
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) April 29, 2026
I don’t mind the idea of a search firm to help bring in candidates for the Vikings to comb through. With that being said, you’d think that after this many years in the NFL business, the Wilfs would have enough contacts and football knowledge built up to conduct a rather thorough search themselves.
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Nonetheless, what matters is that they get this hire right. So as long as their process — whatever it is — leads to a correct answer, Minnesota Vikings fans will be more than happy with how they went about it.
Confirmed: Rob Brzezinski wants MN Vikings GM job
Back to Rob Brzezinski. His candidacy is the most intriguing part of this hiring process. You’d think he’d be an easy one to nail down, too. After all, he’s already been doing the job for months.
Normally, an interim in-charge is one of the first candidates to land any full-time job. Otherwise, why are they doing it as a placeholder? Yet, NFL insiders have not been able to tell us , until today, whether or not Brzezinski was a candidate to be the MN Vikings next general manager.
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There were even questions over whether or not he wanted to sit in the big man chair full-time. Then on Wednesday, NFL insider Tom Pelissero (NFL Network) cleared that up any confusion surrounding Rob’s interest in the job, tweeting that Brzezinski indeed wants to be the Vikings’ next GM.
Longtime Vikings executive Rob Brzezinski, who has run the team's football operation since January, has expressed interest in the full-time GM job.
Owners Mark and Zygi Wilf announced they've engaged with search firm TurnkeyZRG on the process, which is expected to take weeks.— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 29, 2026
Now that we know Rob Brzezinski actually wants the job, it’s worth noting that the Wilfs must conduct a full-scale search for their next GM, whether that’s what they actually want to do or not.
In order to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule, the Minnesota Vikings must interview at least two “diverse” candidates from outside the organization for any open general manager position. In this circumstance, diverse means any “minority and/or female” candidates.
Clubs must conduct an in-person interview with at least two external diverse — minority and/or female — candidates for any GM or head coaching interview.
What to expect next…
In other words, the Minnesota Vikings would have to pretend they are doing a wide-scale search for their new general manager, even if they really just plan to hire Brzezinski, or anyone else.
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However, only time will tell whether or not that is the case. Without a doubt, MN Vikings insiders believe the Wilfs do NOT currently have a favorite in the race.
In fact, it’s believe it will take at least two weeks just to wrangle up candidates. So while this process is expected to unfold faster than most, the Wilfs do not plan on rushing things.
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