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Giants Make First GM Hire of 2022 With Bills' Joe Schoen: What it Means for the Vikings

This could mean Ryan Poles becomes one of the finalists for Minnesota's GM vacancy.
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The Giants have made the first general manager hire of the 2022 cycle, landing on Buffalo Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen as Dave Gettleman's replacement.

Schoen was Brandon Beane's right-hand man in Buffalo and now gets the opportunity to run his own organization. He beat out the Chiefs' Ryan Poles and the 49ers' Adam Peters, who were the Giants' other two finalists.

That leaves just three teams with GM openings: the Bears, Raiders, and Vikings.

The Vikings never interviewed Schoen and haven't interviewed Peters. But they did interview Poles and were reportedly impressed. The Chiefs' executive director of player personnel appears to be a strong candidate for the Vikings' opening, but there was a chance he was going to end up being the pick in New York.

Per ESPN's Courtney Cronin, Poles "may be in line as the favorite in Minnesota" with Schoen being hired by the Giants. The former Boston College offensive lineman has been a mainstay in the Chiefs' front office for over a decade and played a big role in constructing Kansas City's Super Bowl-winning roster. His role in shaping the Chiefs' offensive line last offseason was impressive.

Poles is also a candidate for the Bears job. He was a finalist for the Panthers' opening last year.

Meet Vikings GM Candidate Ryan Poles, Who Had 'Impressive' Interview

The Vikings also interviewed seven other candidates, listed below along with Poles, and have yet to announce any finalists for second interviews. The first round took place virtually, but the second round is believed to be happening in person.

  • Monti Ossenfort, Titans director of player personnel
  • John Spytek, Buccaneers VP of player personnel
  • Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Browns VP of football operations
  • Catherine Raiche, Eagles VP of football operations
  • Ryan Poles, Chiefs executive director of player personnel
  • Brandon Brown, Eagles director of player personnel
  • Glenn Cook, Browns VP of player personnel
  • Eliot Wolf, Patriots front office consultant

It seems like a hire could be coming sometime next week.

Update: Poles and Adofo-Mensah are the Vikings' two finalists and will interview in Minnesota this week.

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