The Minnesota Vikings sent a ripple through the NFL last Friday when they fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. The fact that he was let go wasn't the biggest shock; it was the timing of the move.
Adofo-Mensah had already spent time this offseason scouting draft prospects at this year's East-West Shrine Bowl, and he was down in Mobile, Alabama, last week interviewing and scouting players at the Senior Bowl. It was an odd time to fire a general manager when the first big steps in the path to the NFL Draft had already started, and free agency was on the horizon.
Personnel decisions have now been given to Rob Brzezinski, who will act as Minnesota's general manager through free agency and the draft process, and then the team plans to begin a search for someone to replace Adofo-Mensah.
The move was a shock, but after the surprise lifted, there's a long list of reasons why the decision was made.
Biggest reasons why the Minnesota Vikings fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
Quarterback
This is clearly one of the biggest reasons why Adofo-Mensah was let go, and as the days have passed since his firing, more and more details are coming out.
Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell wanted Drake Maye in the 2024 NFL Draft and was willing to give up whatever it took to get him. Adofo-Mensah had a certain amount he wasn't willing to go over, and apparently stood firm against giving up those assets.
So Minnesota went with J.J. McCarthy instead.
After the 2024 season, when Sam Darnold blew up and led the Vikings to the playoffs, it was Adofo-Mensah who was willing to let him hit free agency a few months later.
Minnesota assumed they could re-sign Daniel Jones in the 2025 offseason, but that fell through. O'Connell supposedly told him that McCarthy wasn't ready and the Vikings needed another option for the 2025 season to compete.
Aaron Rodgers then became available and was willing to come to Minnesota on a lower-than-market-rate deal. It was Adofo-Mensah who said "no" and was adamant about sticking with McCarthy, ignoring the opinion of his head coach in the process.
A year removed clearly shows that the head coach was right, as Minnesota now has more questions than answers at the quarterback position, and Darnold will be playing in the Super Bowl.
Bad Trades
Adofo-Mensah loved to wheel and deal during his tenure with the Vikings. He would make trades on final cut day, swing a deal before the trade deadline in November, and move up and down the draft board.
The problem was that Adofo-Mensah never got good value for his deals.
The biggest sin was in his first NFL Draft with Minnesota in 2022, where he moved from pick No. 12 to pick No. 32, and did not get a future first-round pick in the process.
Instead, he settled for picks No. 32, 34, and 66, but also gave the Detroit Lions back pick No. 46. It was a terrible use of the draft-pick value chart, and he passed on elite talent like Kyle Hamilton to do it.
Adofo-Mensah also has overpaid to move up in the draft.
He gave up way too much when he jumped up a few slots to get edge rusher Dallas Turner in 2024. He also gave up more than he needed to move up one spot to take McCarthy, who likely would've been there at pick No. 11 anyway.
Adofo-Mensah also moved assets for basically nothing.
He only got a sixth-round pick in return when trading away offensive guard Ezra Cleveland to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2023. All Cleveland's done there since arriving is graded out very highly and earned himself a meaty contract extension.
Adofo-Mensah also accepted a sixth-round pick for defensive lineman Harrison Phillips this past offseason, who went on to start every game, racked up 60 tackles, and five tackles for a loss for the New York Jets in 2025.
Adofo-Mensah also accepted a sixth-round pick for offensive guard Ed Ingram last March, who went on to be one of the Houston Texans' best offensive linemen in 2025.
Bad Drafting
"Let Kwesi Cook" was a popular saying during his run as the Vikings' general manager, but if one were to eat one of those meals, one would probably be spending hours on the toilet.
Adofo-Mensah failed miserably at evaluating and selecting talent in the NFL Draft in his tenure with Minnesota, and his first one was the biggest travesty.
Adofo-Mensah had excellent options staring him in the face in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, as Kyle Hamilton, Jordan Davis, and Jameson Williams were all still available, but he traded all the way back to the end of the first round to take Lewis Cine.
He then missed on the rest of the picks he acquired in that deal, and the only players who remained on the team during their entire rookie contracts from that class were Ty Chandler and Jalen Nailor, who are both free agents.
Adofo-Mensah's drafts since that first one weren't much better.
He did hit on Jordan Addison in 2023, but questions linger around him now with all his off-the-field troubles. Turner looks like he could be the real deal, but it's looking doubtful that McCarthy will pan out in Minnesota.
Adofo-Menah selected 28 players in his four drafts with the Vikings. As of this writing, only 12 remain on the team, and two of those are free agents.
So, 43 percent of his picks are still on the team, but that isn't even counting the scant few who contribute. That is simply an unacceptable number and a fireable offense.
Horrible 2025 Free Agency Class
There's no way to sugarcoat it: Adofo-Mensah's 2025 free agency class was a gigantic failure.
He took a risk by bringing in older veterans and others who had injury histories. He gave a fat contract to Ryan Kelly, who missed the majority of the season, shelled out a mega five-year 87.72 million dollars to Will Fries, who was average at best, and overpaid Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen.
In total, Kwesi spent way too much on this group, and what did he get? He got nine wins and no playoffs.
It was an absolute disaster of a class and one that has put the Vikings almost $50 million in the red as they begin preparing for free agency this year.
All that money spent, and Adofo-Mensah was unwilling to invest any of it in a quarterback who could've made this team competitive.
Instead, he chose to stick with his hand-picked young quarterback and "upgrade" in other areas. It was a risky move, and one that completely backfired for him.
Inconsistent Availability
Another nugget about Kwesi that has come out and definitely led to his firing was his apparent unavailability.
According to The Athletic's Diana Russini and Alec Lewis, Adofo-Mensah also spent two weeks of training camp in 2023 working remotely to take paternity leave after his first child was born.
You can't blame the guy for wanting to spend time with his new child, but spending two full weeks away from the team in training camp is unheard of in the NFL, and it caused him to miss many preseason meetings. Many around the league were in disbelief that he did this, and it was deemed very uncommon.
Another recent report from ESPN's Kevin Seifert stated that ownership had to speak to Adofo-Mensah back in 2024 and told him to be "more accessible" to the people who worked for him.
It was believed by ownership that he spent more time in his office, working through statistical models, and not enough time engaging with his staffers. That's a strange way to run a franchise, and another reason why the move needed to be made.
Adofo-Mensah's tenure with the Vikings will go down as a failed one. The failure at quarterback, the horrible drafts, bad trades, poor free agency class a season ago, and his unwillingness to be around those who work for him all led to his justifiable firing.