The Minnesota Vikings made headlines this week with the sudden firing of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah - a move that raises more questions than it answers, especially considering the timing. On the surface, this might seem like an internal shake-up with little relevance outside of Minnesota. But when you zoom out just a bit, things start to look a little more interesting - especially if you’ve been keeping an eye on the recent Joe Burrow trade chatter.
Let’s start with what we know: Adofo-Mensah is out, and executive VP of football operations Rob Brzezinski is stepping in to lead the team through the NFL Draft. That alone is noteworthy.
Brzezinski is a long-time league veteran who cut his teeth with the Dolphins back in the '90s, overlapping with none other than Jimmy Johnson - the architect of the Herschel Walker trade and the guy whose draft value chart still shapes front offices today. So, yes, Brzezinski knows his way around a bold move.
Now, let’s talk timing. The firing comes just days after rumors surfaced linking the Vikings to a potential trade for Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow.
And while it’s fair to question the legitimacy of those reports - no one's saying it's a done deal - the sequence of events is at least eyebrow-raising. Could it be that Adofo-Mensah wasn’t willing to mortgage the future for a Burrow blockbuster?
And could Brzezinski be more open to swinging for the fences? It’s speculative, sure, but it’s not outlandish.
Of course, there’s a simpler explanation: the J.J. McCarthy decision.
Adofo-Mensah stuck with the young quarterback in 2025, even after letting veteran Sam Darnold walk in free agency - a move that’s looking a little rough in hindsight, considering Darnold is now about to start in Super Bowl 60 for the Seahawks. But context matters.
McCarthy is only 23 and has just 10 NFL starts under his belt. And down the stretch this season, he actually played some of his best football.
Here’s a snapshot of McCarthy’s final four games:
- 5th in EPA per play (0.276)
- 3rd in Success Rate (55.7%)
- 2nd in Big-Time Throw Percentage (8.9%)
That’s not the profile of a quarterback who’s flailing. That’s a young player starting to figure it out.
And while Darnold had the experience edge - his Week 1 start in 2024 was the 57th of his career - the Vikings clearly believed in McCarthy’s upside. Whether that belief came from Adofo-Mensah alone or was shared across the front office is unclear, but it might have been a hill he was ultimately unwilling to come down from.
Still, in today’s NFL, patience is a luxury few teams can afford. Just look at Joe Burrow: He came in as a rookie in 2020, tore up his knee, and still managed to lead the Bengals to a Super Bowl in Year 2 and an AFC Championship Game in Year 3.
That’s the bar now. Young quarterbacks are expected to produce - and produce fast.
If the Vikings see Burrow as the kind of transformative figure who can immediately elevate the franchise, it’s not hard to imagine internal friction if the GM wasn’t fully on board with that vision. Again, we’re not saying that’s what happened - but we are saying the dots are there if you want to connect them.
Then again, maybe this is just about the draft record. Adofo-Mensah had four cracks at it, and while not a disaster, his draft classes didn’t exactly light the league on fire.
If McCarthy doesn’t pan out, that could end up being the defining miss of his tenure. Fair or not, quarterback decisions tend to carry that kind of weight.
And let’s be honest - there are GMs around the league with worse draft résumés who are still comfortably employed. But the NFL isn’t always about fairness.
It’s about results. And sometimes, it’s about timing.
So now, the Vikings move forward with Brzezinski at the helm - at least for now. Whether that means a bold pivot toward a Burrow pursuit or simply a new direction in draft philosophy remains to be seen. But one thing’s clear: Minnesota’s offseason just got a whole lot more interesting.