EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings reset their organization after the firing of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah last Friday. The Vikings are creating new pathways for communication, establishing workflow and setting the table for an offseason full of important — and, in some cases, far-reaching — decisions.
In three months, they’ll do it again when owners Zygi and Mark Wilf hire Adofo-Mensah’s replacement.
This temporary fix is far outside NFL convention and raises the likelihood that the Vikings’ next general manager will inherit a quarterback depth chart and a draft class that they have no connection to. Unless the Wilfs plan to promote Rob Brzezinski, their longtime executive vice president of football operations who is leading the front office through the NFL draft, the Vikings are now destined to head into next season wearing a figurative Band-Aid.
Mark Wilf said last week that the «kind of organization and the kind of building we have here» will make the job «highly desirable.» That remains to be seen after the public exposure of an unusual set of dynamics as Adofo-Mensah’s tenure ended.
In the meantime, let’s take a closer look at some of the key questions the franchise is facing during this unsettled moment.
Denver Broncos general manager George Paton, who is under contract through the 2026 season, to change teams. Paton is a close friend and confidant of Spielman, and worked as his top assistant not only with the Vikings from 2007 to 2020 but also with the Miami Dolphins for five years and the Chicago Bears for three.
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That’s a total of 22 seasons at Spielman’s side. As a longtime football executive, Paton wouldn’t just embody the opposite of Adofo-Mensah. He would represent the closest way the Vikings could return to their previous regime, short of rehiring Spielman, who now works as the New York Jets’ senior football advisor.
General manager jobs are subject to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which means the Vikings must interview at least two external minority candidates for the job. But the first order of business, after determining Brzezinski’s interest, will be to find out whether the Broncos would make Paton available and, if so, if the Vikings would need to compensate them first.
Otherwise, the Vikings will work through a process that has little precedent in recent NFL history. Of the NFL’s 32 general managers/personnel directors, only one was hired as an external candidate after the draft. In 2017, the Buffalo Bills hired Brandon Beane — who had been a Carolina Panthers executive — after firing incumbent Doug Whaley.
J.J. McCarthy?
The best way to put this, based on what sources have said, is that all bets are off. The general manager who drafted McCarthy No. 10 in 2024 has been fired, and the coach who was in full agreement with that decision is now under considerably more scrutiny.
In the big picture, McCarthy is a talented player who just turned 23 and has a total of 10 NFL starts. Few NFL teams would give up on a quarterback with that profile, and many team builders are particularly enamored with optimizing a quarterback’s rookie contract. Adofo-Mensah was one of them, but his departure is a reminder of the range of outcomes that approach can lead to.
If anything, these events increase the chances that the Vikings will take a big swing at finding a veteran quarterback who could start in 2026. The only thing more damaging than making the mistakes the Vikings made last season would be to repeat them this year.
Will all offseason decisions be focused on immediate impact?
It’s fair to wonder about the long-term incentives, or lack thereof, for any temporary leadership structure. At this point, the Vikings’ only enduring plan — as it pertains to player acquisition or anything else — is to return to the playoffs in 2026.
But that likely would have been at least part of Adofo-Mensah’s approach as well. The Vikings were the NFL’s third-oldest team in 2025, based on snap-weighted age, and entered the offseason roughly $40 million over the salary cap.
In addition to the looming retirements of safety Harrison Smith and fullback C.J. Ham, the Vikings will have to consider the futures of several other veterans, from running back Aaron Jones Sr. to defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to center Ryan Kelly. Given their relative lack of depth, they’re going to need to find economic but immediate replacements in either free agency or the draft.
