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Fired Vikings GM Couldn’t Lead, Wasn’t Available
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- Fired Vikings GM Couldn’t Lead, Wasn’t Available
Image Courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings offseason has been dominated by quarterback questions, coaches flirting with other teams and, on Friday, the firing of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah .
Reporters — who all say they heard rumblings of tension behind the scenes at TCO Performance Center — weren't all that shocked by the move, but it caught fans and other media members completely off-guard, mostly due to the timing.
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More importantly, Kwesi's dismissal (and the fallout since) raises all sorts of questions over the dichotomy of the MN Vikings ' internal workings as an organization, since Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell took over operations in 2022.
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In the last 24-36 hours, reports of tension and possible schisms between the Vikings' former general manager and others out in Eagan are easier to find than pancakes at an iHOP.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah not the leader Minnesota Vikings needed
But there are a couple of themes that continue to land on our plate over and over again, as these rumors and reports start to pile up. One of the most damning is Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's leadership skills… or lack thereof.
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The first report came from ESPN's Kevin Seifert, who wrote that — while coaches, scouts and others at TCO Performance Center were grinding out long days and neglecting other areas of their life for the good of winning — the same could not be said for Adofo-Mensah, especially after the birth of his first child.
The Wilfs believed [Kwesi] spent more time in his office [especially in his first two seasons], working through statistical models and long-range planning and not enough time circulating among staffers.
Adofo-Mensah didn't always work the traditional hours of a football grinder, sources said, but he talked often about finding unusual times of the day to get work done — especially after his two children were born
Ultimately, though, Adofo-Mensah's approach contributed to a level of detachment from the Vikings' otherwise traditional coaching staff.
Seifert goes onto write about other issues, including Kwesi's non-football upbringing — and how that regularly affected his ability to do the job.
I'd imagine it takes a very special person to earn the respect of football guys, in a football job, when most of your background is in finance. Obviously, swinging and missing so badly in the 2022 draft, his first, did not help him early in that process of trying to gain trust from others in the organization.
Kwesi was not the leader… Rick Spielman once was
But Matthew Coller (Purple Insider) took Seifert's report a step further. Not only was Adofo-Mensah shutting himself in and not being accessible enough to coaches, executives and players of the Minnesota Vikings — but he was struggling to connect with them.
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Yet again, his inability to speak football and separation from team facilities, after he became a father, sprout up as having rubbed his colleagues at TCO Performance Center the wrong way.
While they went 13-4 in his first season, a feeling emerged inside the organization that Adofo-Mensah wasn't taking hold of the leadership role like they would have wanted. Some within other management positions felt that he didn't connect with people in the same way that former GM Rick Spielman had in the past. Spielman was known for being incredibly personal and thoughtful toward his staff. Some felt that KAM's door was not always open.
During 2023 camp, there were issues with communication between the coaches, other front office members and Adofo-Mensah. Multiple sources have told Purple Insider that the problems related to his availability directly after the birth of his first child. In the real world that would be normal but not so much in the NFL stratosphere.
Then, there's the bombshell report that has already circulated around the internet at least four or five times, in the past 24 hours.
Friday night on SportsCenter , NFL insider Jeremy Fowler — who cut his NFL teeth covering the Vikings at the Pioneer Press and has unbelievable contacts within the Vikings organization — mentioned (yet again) Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's "non-traditional football background."
Non-football background made it hard to lead Minnesota Vikings
He, however, went as far as to say that the now-fired general manager was "never really accepted in Minnesota." For an organization that has shoved so much 'collaboration' and kumbaya wordplay down our throats that some are overdosing… these reports reveal a completely different reality.
-What went into Kwesi Adolfo-Mensah firing
-Klint Kubiak's weekend heating up @SportsCenter with @KevinNegandhi pic.twitter.com/WAmndpDqV3— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 30, 2026
"This is somebody with a non-traditional football background — not a scouting background, more analytics. My sources tell me he was never truly accepted [in Minnesota] from day one."
What's next for the Minnesota Vikings' front office remains to be seen. Rob Brezinski will lead football operations through the draft, meaning Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores will have more say than ever.
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If and when they replace the interim football operations leader, I think we can rule out the Wilfs bringing in another analytically-driven, non-football guy as the next general manager or president of football operations.
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