Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is the favorite to become the new general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Courtney Cronin on Tuesday.
Adofo-Mensah, the Cleveland Browns‘ vice president of football operations, was expected to have his second interview with the Vikings on Tuesday.
He would succeed Rick Spielman, who was fired along with head coach Mike Zimmer after the regular season.
The Vikings’ new GM hire would be tasked with hiring the new head coach.
Minnesota conducted eight initial interviews with head-coaching candidates over the past nine days, including San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans, who was a quality control and inside linebackers coach for the 49ers during the final three seasons that Adofo-Mensah spent with the franchise from 2017 to 2019.
Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles also was expected to meet again with the Vikings this week, but he is finalizing a deal Tuesday to be the new GM of the Chicago Bears, league sources told ESPN’s Schefter on Tuesday.
Browns general manager Andrew Berry hired Adofo-Mensah from San Francisco in 2020 after he spent seven seasons as the 49ers’ manager — then director — of football research and development. The 40-year-old holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in economics from Princeton and Stanford, respectively, and had several Wall Street ventures as a portfolio manager and commodities trader before he entered the NFL.
Adofo-Mensah interviewed for Carolina’s general manager opening in 2021. In addition to Minnesota, he also interviewed with the Bears for their GM vacancy.