Minnesota Vikings common supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah meets with reporters throughout an offseason media availability targeted on roster building and future planning. Talking on March 26, 2025, on the TCO Efficiency Heart in Eagan, Minnesota, Adofo-Mensah mentioned free company selections and the membership’s draft outlook after earlier trades reshaped its assortment of choices. Obligatory Credit score: YouTube.
The Minnesota Vikings fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on the finish of January, and it didn’t take lengthy for the previous high boss to land a brand new job with the San Francisco 49ers, the franchise that reared him over 10 years in the past.
Adofo-Mensah will function the Vice President of Personnel and Technique, presumably eyeing a chance to be a common supervisor once more down the highway.
San Francisco Provides Adofo-Mensah One other Entrance Workplace Function
Tennessee Titans common supervisor Ran Carthon and Vikings common supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah share a dialog throughout summer season follow actions. Throughout joint classes on Aug. 16, 2023, in Eagan, Minnesota, the 2 executives met on the sideline as groups evaluated gamers, gathered info, and continued preparations for the upcoming common season. Obligatory Credit score: Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY NETWORK.
Adofo-Mensah Has a Formal Title
It’s official for Adofo-Mensah, as 49ers.com introduced Wednesday: “The San Francisco 49ers today announced that Nathan Biehl, Grant Bordelon, Ryan Carter, Brad Clark, Casey Filkins, Jordan Fox, Michael Gonzalez, Austin Moss II, and Jeff Weidemeyer have each been promoted to new roles within the organization. In addition, the team has added Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to the personnel department: Kwesi Adofo-Mensah – Vice President, Personnel & Strategy.”
“Adofo-Mensah has been hired as vice president, personnel & strategy and returns to San Francisco after spending the previous four seasons (2022-25) as the general manager for the Minnesota Vikings.”
For Adofo-Mensah, the association will really feel like a return to his roots — with a sweeter job title.
Kwesi’s Time with the Vikings
Adofo-Mensah’s tenure with the Vikings presents a posh legacy. On one hand, the workforce achieved important success, boasting the NFL’s fifth-best document beneath his management. He skillfully managed the transition from the Mike Zimmer to the Kevin O’Connell period and correctly shed costly veteran contracts — reminiscent of these of Dalvin Prepare dinner, Adam Thielen, and Eric Kendricks — with out diminishing the workforce’s competitiveness.
Whereas the workforce’s on-field efficiency and organizational transitions had been robust, Adofo-Mensah’s drafting document was a nasty hurdle. Throughout 4 drafts, he yielded solely a handful of clear impression gamers: Jordan Addison, Will Reichard, Dallas Turner, and Jalen Nailor. Even with a beneficiant evaluation, including Donovan Jackson or Levi Drake Rodriguez to that listing nonetheless represents a meager return for a common supervisor tasked with constructing a sustainable depth chart.
This lack of success on draft day grew to become a well-known sample for Vikings followers. Annually, weak draft lessons left roster holes unfilled, instantly shifting hopes to the subsequent free company interval. Reliance on free company is a precarious technique in soccer; whereas it might probably present momentary fixes, it hardly ever establishes a core.
The scenario with Sam Darnold additional difficult Adofo-Mensah’s time in Minnesota. After Darnold’s stellar 2024 season, throwing 35 landing passes for Minnesota, Adofo-Mensah had a number of choices: he might have utilized the franchise tag and explored a commerce, re-signed Darnold to a short-term deal, or in any other case capitalized on Darnold’s career-best efficiency.
As a substitute, Darnold departed for Seattle and, simply eleven months later, received a Tremendous Bowl. The end result will undoubtedly be a long-lasting remorse for Adofo-Mensah.
The one issue that might have modified the narrative was J.J. McCarthy’s efficiency. Had McCarthy excelled in 2025, Adofo-Mensah’s status would have been fully completely different. His general technique would have appeared extra coherent, Darnold’s departure extra comprehensible, and the draft misses much less damning.
However that situation by no means materialized. McCarthy’s inaugural season as QB1 was marred by accidents and poor effectivity, leaving Minnesota with no definitive reply at quarterback heading into the 2026 offseason.
Hoping to Change His Personal Narrative in SF
It’s unclear how lengthy Adofo-Mensah should stay the 49ers’ Vice President of Personnel and Technique to revive his identify, however as at all times, time heals.
Minnesota Vikings common supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah observes pregame exercise from the sideline earlier than kickoff at U.S. Financial institution Stadium. On Sept. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Adofo-Mensah watched gamers full warm-ups and preparations whereas persevering with to supervise roster improvement and organizational decision-making. Obligatory Credit score: Matt Krohn-Imagn Pictures.
For now, he’s often called the man who orchestrated a number of poor drafts, and extra damning, the person who let Darnold go away in free company for the Seattle Seahawks. When the Seahawks punched their ticket to the Tremendous Bowl 5 months later, profitable the rattling factor, the Vikings grew to become the plain butt of jokes for roster malpractice.
Permitting Darnold to depart received’t quickly be forgotten, so if Adofo-Mensah desires a common supervisor’s job down the road, he’ll simply must hope that some proprietor believes in second probabilities. He’d restore shine, to an extent, if the 49ers can win a Tremendous Bowl someday quickly.
Vikings Rent Teasley 4 Months Later
In the meantime, the Vikings locked in Adofo-Mensah’s substitute this week, hiring Nolan Teasley from the aforementioned Seahawks. Teasley has a personnel and scouting background — that’s what the Vikings want after Adofo-Mensah’s gaffes — and can work with O’Connell to carry a championship to the Twin Cities.
Minnesota Vikings proprietor Mark Wilf joins newly employed common supervisor Nolan Teasley throughout an introductory press convention at workforce headquarters. On June 3, 2026, in Eagan, Minnesota, Teasley mentioned his imaginative and prescient for the franchise and emphasised collaboration throughout possession, teaching, and soccer operations as he started his new position. Obligatory Credit score: YouTube.
The brand new boss didn’t reveal a lot at Wednesday’s press convention — he’s a person of few phrases when answering detailed questions — however he did state that the Vikings will not be heading towards a roster rebuild and that he expects the membership to contend for a Tremendous Bowl in 2026.
The interim common supervisor from the previous couple of months, Rob Brzezinski, will stay with the Vikings and reportedly maintain extra energy.
Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … Extra about Dustin Baker
