Vikings Owner Mark Wilf Explains Decision to Fire Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

The Vikings' decision to fire general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Friday came as a surprise due to the unusual timing of the move. The fact that it happened 26 days after the conclusion of the regular season, and just one day after Adofo-Mensah was at Senior Bowl practices in Alabama, is what made this news so unexpected. Unsurprisingly, that has led to speculation about possible behind-the-scenes drama playing a role.

Around 90 minutes after the Vikings confirmed the news, owner and president Mark Wilf spoke to reporters in a virtual press conference over the course of nearly 20 minutes. Wilf explained the process behind the decision and said it came strictly from ownership. He said it was about a totality of events and not one particular thing.

"We understand there'll be questions on the timing, and why now?," Wilf said in an opening statement. "I think you know how we want to operate as owners, we want to avoid knee-jerk reactions, be pragmatic, thoughtful, methodical in making these decisions. And as we do each year, we held our end-of-the-season organizational meetings over a couple weeks and spent this past week as an ownership group reviewing, discussing on how best to move forward.

"This is a critical offseason. Ultimately, we felt that change was necessary in football operations and did not feel comfortable going forward into this offseason with the current leadership. It's not about any one decision or move. We looked at the situation cumulatively. We just didn't feel confident going through the entirely of the offseason, an additional draft, and free agency with this structure."

LIVE: Owner/President Mark Wilf talks to the media https://t.co/ihewUFVk1I
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 30, 2026

As announced earlier in the day, vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski will lead the Vikings' football operations for at least the next three months, through free agency and the draft. He'll work closely with the rest of the team's personnel and scouting staff, Kevin O'Connell and the coaching staff, and team ownership, Wilf said. There will be no further staff departures, which suggests assistant GMs Ryan Grigson and Demitrius Washington will have important roles in this interim period where the team doesn't have a traditional general manager. After the draft, the Vikings will conduct a "thorough search" to find their next GM.

As far as the strange timing of this firing, Wilf said it was the result of a deliberate process of self evaluation in the weeks following the season.

"The most important thing was getting this decision right," he said. "Like I said, we like to be methodical about all this, and we had our season-long, season-ending meetings and really took a deep-dive look at not just any one thing, but over the past few years. So we wanted to make sure we got the decision right. We talked to all the stakeholders, all the people involved in our football operations, and we really came to this decision in a methodical way, and that’s the way we went about it. Because this was about our long-term success."

Adofo-Mensah was hired in 2022 to replace Rick Spielman, who was fired with more traditional timing (one day after the 2021 season ended). Last offseason, both Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell received contract extensions. But while O'Connell remains a big part of the organization's future, Adofo-Mensah is now gone. The Vikings went 43-25 with two playoff appearances and no playoff victories in his tenure as GM.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

As for what changed between now and Adofo-Mensah being extended last May, Wilf said it was just about "having another season of information here." The Vikings, despite high expectations in 2025, went 9-8 last season and missed the playoffs by half a game.

The primary reason why the Vikings' most recent season was a failure was their quarterback play, stemming from decisions that were made last offseason. Sam Darnold, after a 14-win season in 2024, left and signed a three-year deal with the Seahawks. He's now getting set to play in the Super Bowl. Daniel Jones also departed to sign with the Colts despite internal beliefs from the Vikings that he would re-sign in Minnesota. The Vikings chose not to sign Aaron Rodgers and went with J.J. McCarthy, who had a nightmarish season in terms of both health and production.

The two biggest knocks against Adofo-Mensah are the handling of last year's quarterback situation and his track record in the NFL draft. Starting with a horrific first draft in 2022, he had minimal success finding impact players in that area, especially outside of the first round.

"I'll just say it again, it's not necessarily a fair thing to talk about any one decision," Wilf said. "That's the way we approach it. It's a body of work. It's a cumulative set of decisions. It's four years of where we've been. We as ownership feel — and I know our fans feel it and our entire organization feels it — we need to get to a better place. This is strictly an ownership and organizational decision. We feel this is the best path going forward. It's not about one player, one decision, one draft pick."

Since Adofo-Mensah's firing, various national insiders have reported that there was tension with the Vikings' organization, and that this move doesn't necessarily come as a surprise to people in league circles. If there has been any internal strife, that obviously wasn't something Wilf was going to discuss with the media.

"There's all kinds of dynamics that go on in a building, but I will tell you that there's a lot of respect and personal appreciation and the relationship is all good," Wilf said. "This is about strictly from a professional standpoint what will give our football team and our fans the best chance to win Super Bowls. We wanted to go in a different direction in terms of how we move forward. That's strictly what this is about. It's strictly a business decision."

Moving forward, Wilf said the organization is excited about the prospects of this offseason. The team has work to do in order to free up cap space before free agency begins, but that's what Brzezinski does best. There are all kinds of avenues to create space to go out and make additions. The Vikings also have a strong stable of draft picks this year, with four selections in the top 100. Wilf knows it's a critical offseason, which is why their focus over the next three months will be on building the roster. In May, they can turn their attention toward finding a new long-term GM.

"We're positioned to have a significant number of draft picks," he said. "We do have a nucleus of players that is extremely solid here. As we pivot to next season, of course, every offseason is critical, but we're excited here about the possibilities with the draft capital we now have and taking a hard look at free agency and where we can supplement given the parameters of the league.

"We're excited about it, but we have to get it right. We need young players that we can build on for the future and keep this thing moving forward. We've had some success, but certainly we're disappointed where we were this past season and we know our fans want a lot more, and we certainly want a lot more."

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