Kevin O’Connell and Rob Brzezinski will meet with local media in Indianapolis, but their absence from the general sessions leaves fans with plenty of questions about the Minnesota Vikings' leadership.
Normally, the NFL Combine is the first time that we hear from NFL front offices and coaches since the season ended. Coaching staffs have been shuffled and vacancies have been filled... well, mostly, anyway.
The Minnesota Vikings, however, won't speak at the Indianapolis Convention Center next week. Kevin O'Connell and Rob Brzezinski, the vice president of football operations, were both left off the list of scheduled speakers, which included head coaches and general managers from around the league.
They aren't the only head coach-general manager combination to not partake. But it is a curious move, even if they are scheduled to do on-the-record sessions with members of the Twin Cities media, per Vikings.com.
O'Connell spoke at the event in each of his first four seasons with the Vikings. So did Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who served as general manager at the same time.
But Adofo-Mensah was fired on January 30, nearly four weeks after Minnesota's final regular-season game. He had spoken with the media on January 13, fielding questions about the failures at quarterback and what needed to change in the offseason.
What was curious about that day was that he and O'Connell had held a joint press conference at the end of the season. Instead, they held separate meetings with the media, signaling a possible divide.
But the press conference came and went, and Adofo-Mensah went to Mobile, Alabama, for Senior Bowl practices. However, the Vikings fired him the day before the Senior Bowl game.
This series of events has left fans wondering, why? Not necessarily why Adofo-Mensah was fired in the first place, but why he was fired so long after the season, and after spending a week at the Senior Bowl.
Brzezinski is well-respected within the Vikings' organization and will navigate the team's operations through free agency and the draft. Team president Mark Wilf said the Vikings will decide on who will be their general manager after the conclusion of the draft. That itself raises questions about the timing of the Adofo-Mensah firing.
But it appears the Vikings are trying to control how the situation is presented publicly. O'Connell and Brzezinski are still speaking to the media, but only to the members they are familiar with.
They could be trying to curb the onslaught of questions that could be coming after Sam Darnold won the Super Bowl with the Seahawks. But that would likely be tied to questions about Adofo-Mensah's dismissal as well.
We'll still get some answers next week when the local media meets with O'Connell and Brzezinski in Indianapolis, but it feels like the Vikings are trying to do some damage control.
Will that provide any clarity as to the general manager position in the coming months, or will we be left with more questions than answers?