Vikings hire vice president of football operations

The Minnesota Vikings have announced a big hire in the team’s front office.

Demitrius Washington was named the team’s vice president of football operations on Monday.

Washington spent the past seven years in the football research and development department for the San Francisco 49ers, where he crossed paths with Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

Most recently, Washington was San Francisco’s manager of football research and development, overseeing the optimization and process improvement efforts while developing predictive and statistical analysis for player evaluation, acquisition and strategy.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have Demitrius join the Vikings front office,” Adofo-Mensah said in a statement. “He is one of the most uniquely gifted people I have met in my time in the NFL. He is able to learn complex ideas, make them simple, and apply them in all facets of the organization. He has learned from some of the best minds in the game today and he will continue to flourish in his role with Vikings.”

Washington also previously worked as a research and development analyst for the 49ers — working alongside Adofo-Mensah — after getting into the NFL as a game charter intern for the Cleveland Browns from 2013 to 2015.