Panthers Request Permission to Interview Kwesi Adofo-Mensah For GM Opening
The Carolina Panthers have begun requesting permission to interview general manager candidates from different teams and according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, one of them being Cleveland Browns Vice President of Football Operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
This was something that was eluded to earlier in the weekend by Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
Mensah is a former commodities trader that has heavily invested in understanding data trends and employing analytics. He's trying to get a better grounding in the football side of the business, but the new owner of the Panthers is also a big believer in analytics, which would explain the interest.
The Panthers obviously already have a head coach in Matt Rhule, who is being paid a significant amount of money and seemingly would be Mensah's boss based on that investment.
It's important to note that if the Panthers were to hire Mensah for the position, the Browns would be in line to receive a pair of third round picks with this new rule from the NFL, trying to encourage teams to hire and develop minority front office executives.
They would need to replace the Vice President of Football Ops, but they wouldn't leave empty handed in the deal.
Mensah may still need to gain further experience and expertise in the football side of the business before being a serious consideration for this type of job. He also might want more experience so he can dictate terms on the type of job he wants as opposed to being married to a head coach like Rhule.
