Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf are running an “ownership-driven” search for a new general manager after firing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in late January, and they have kept the process tightly controlled, the report says. Sources told the report the Wilfs’ usual end-of-season meetings offered no sign that Adofo-Mensah’s job was at risk, and his dismissal surprised many inside the team’s facility.
Chief operating officer Andrew Miller has worked with the search firm TurnkeyZRG to assemble a list of external candidates, and coach Kevin O’Connell has been included as a limited participant in the effort, the report says. O’Connell told reporters at rookie minicamp he is available to help but is not leading the search, saying, “In whatever capacity that ownership and Andrew have for me as their plan, that’s what I’m going to do… I have so much respect in the process-oriented driven aspect of not only our ownership, but Andrew Miller, that I know we’re going to get to that good outcome,” per the report.
The Wilfs, Miller, O’Connell and some of the owners’ adult children have conducted initial virtual interviews this week, and the report says there could be additional meetings around next week’s NFL spring meeting and its revamped accelerator program. If the process proceeds smoothly, a second round of formal, in-person interviews would take place during the final week of May, the report says.
Executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, who traditionally has been a key advisor in major hirings, is a candidate for the job this time, the report says. Mark Wilf has spoken in neutral terms about Brzezinski’s candidacy while laying out qualities the Wilfs want in a GM, emphasizing leadership and fit with the current scouting and coaching staffs, the report says. Wilf was quoted laying out those priorities, saying the hire must “fit within what we have in our building right now as well” and that the Wilfs hope to identify qualities they “can build around.”
The external candidate list initially included six names and three more were added this week, the report says. The group of nine comprises current assistant general managers who rose through scouting ranks: Chad Alexander, RJ Gillen, Terrance Gray, John McKay, Nolan Teasely, Dave Ziegler, Ray Agnew, Reed Burckhardt and Kyle Smith. Only Ziegler previously served as an NFL general manager, the report says.
The report says Brzezinski’s presence amid a slate of relatively inexperienced personnel executives has prompted numerous NFL sources to wonder about the Wilfs’ overall plans for the front office.
