The firing of the general manager has only raised more questions.
After four seasons, the Minnesota Vikings parted ways with General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Following a disappointing season that saw Sam Darnold lead Seattle to 14 wins and the Super Bowl, and J.J. McCarthy look very lost as the starter, that would be fine. It's not the firing of Kwesi that is strange; it is the timing that makes the Vikings organization look unstable or without a clear plan.
If the firing happened on the Monday after the conclusion of the season, nobody would bat an eyelash. Having Adofo-Mensah spend the week watching prospects at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, then making the move on the off day before the game, is highly unusual.
It gets worse. The Vikings put out a written statement saying Rob Brzezinski will lead the team's football operations through the 2026 NFL Draft. Following the draft, the team will conduct a "thorough" search for a new General Manager.
What on earth are the Vikings doing?
So, to recap: the team moves on from the GM after sending him to scout prospects, they will have a team executive run the team's draft, which is a highly important one, then they'll hire someone who has to be ok with the draft decisions made without him?
This kind of decision-making is on a Jets, Browns, or Raiders level of dysfunction. Let's say Minnesota is giving Brzezinski an audition? Is the audition helping be in charge of an entire draft class?
The NFL Combine is about a month away. The team will have to conduct interviews with collegiate prospects. Of course, they aren't in control of who drafts them, but who would be encouraged to speak with a team with a plan like this?
Funny enough, the past few weeks have shone a light on past dysfunction within the organization as Kellen Mond highlighted his time in Minnesota, where coach Mike Zimmer and the GM never spoke.
That could have been written off as a situation between those two individuals. Now, this happens, and people have far more questions than answers. Again, the firing isn't the issue. It's the timing and lack of a succession plan. Was this just decided this week?
The missed opportunity was to make the decision earlier and have a hand in many capable replacements. Now, any replacement has to be fine with the draft choices and this situation, knowing this could happen to him, or even worse, anything can happen because this just isn't typical.