A Cleveland-based analysis of Vikings GM Adofo-Mensah
Hiring analytics-minded Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is a step toward the Vikings’ embracing the NFL’s growing trend toward using analytics-based scouting and drafting as well as the NFL’s push for diversity in management positions.
“The Vikings are becoming a smarter organization with this hire,” ESPN Cleveland host Danny Cunningham told KSTP Sports’ Chris Long on Wednesday afternoon. “The NFL is moving to a much smarter place than it’s ever been. The Vikings are moving from a team that’s done things – I think – in an old-school way in the previous regime to a team that’s going to do things in a much smarter way.
“Andrew Berry – the GM here – is a very smart man, a very calculated guy. I think that’s what the Vikings are getting. They’re getting someone very smart that’s learned from one of the best in the NFL. “
[anvplayer video=”5085813″ station=”998122″]
Click the video box above to watch KSTP Sports’ Chris Long chat with ESPN Cleveland’s Danny Cunningham about new Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and how the Cleveland Browns could figure into Kirk Cousins’ future with the Vikings
Cunningham is quick to point out the new Vikings GM may be an analytics guru, but shouldn’t be placed into just that one generic category
“So many guys in the Browns front office get painted as, ‘Oh, that’s an analytics guru – just a numbers guy – not a football guy’,” Cunningham said. “This was Andrew Berry’s right-hand man. To be the right-hand man for a general manger in the NFL you have to know what you’re talking about.”
ESPN Cleveland's Danny Cunningham discusses the Vikings hiring of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
KSTP Sports confirmed Wednesday the Vikings and Adofo-Mensah agreed to , but the team has not officially announced the hire.
Adofo-Mensah, a 40-year-old native of the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is the first minority to serve as the Vikings full-time general manager.
He was a walk-on with the Princeton University basketball program and later earned masters degree in economics from Stanford University.
He worked as a commodities trader and portfolio manager for a Wall Street firm prior before moving to the National Football League.
His first post in the NFL was a seven-season stint in the San Francisco Forty Niners front office before moving to Cleveland, where he spent the last two seasons as their Vice President of Player Personnel.