Vikings Rumors: Leading candidate emerging for GM opening

Kansas City Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles apparently has a good shot at becoming the next general manager of the Minnesota Vikings according to a recent report.

For the Minnesota Vikings, and almost every other team in the NFL, the goal is to land a franchise quarterback in the NFL Draft that can lead the organization to a championship just like the Kansas City Chiefs were able to do with Patrick Mahomes.

Well, someone who was a member of the Chiefs’ front office when they drafted Mahomes appears to be leading the race to become the next general manager of the Vikings.

Ryan Poles, Kansas City’s current executive director of player personnel, reportedly has a “good chance,” to take Rick Spielman’s old job in Minnesota according to uStadium.com on Friday.

Two finalists emerge for Minnesota Vikings general manager job

Shortly after uSTADIUM’s report on Friday, NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero confirmed the Vikings‘ heightened interest in Poles when he revealed that the Chiefs executive of player personnel and current Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, have emerged as the two finalists to become Minnesota’s next general manager.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Adofo-Mensah will have a second interview with the Vikings on Tuesday, and Poles’ second interview with Minnesota will take place on Wednesday.

With Friday’s news, The Athletic’s Chad Graff believes that the chance of the Vikings having a new general manager by the end of next week “is likely.”

Poles has been with the Chiefs since 2009 and he’s had a number of different roles, including the director of college scouting and the assistant director of player personnel before becoming the team’s executive director of player personnel last year.

Adofo-Mensah has been with the Browns since 2020, and before that, he worked for the San Francisco 49ers from 2013 to 2019, primarily in their football research and development department.