Private Planes, Party Rooms & Internet Sleuths; the recipe for landing a top GM in 2022
AJ Mansour
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Remember when we were all glued to the T.V. back in August of 2009 when the helicopters were chasing a black SUV holding quarterback Brett Favre down 494 on it’s way to Winter Park? We haven’t seen this sort of media coverage following the offseason moves of the Vikings since then, but we’re back!
As the team started to hone in on Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as the finalist for the opening at General Manager we’ve seen the hustle journalism bumped up a notch and it’s reminded me how intriguing this process can be.
It’s barely Wednesday this week and the timeline surrounding this hiring process has been crazy. Break this down with me here.
Over the weekend we had heard that the Vikings have cropped the list down to two finalists, Ryan Poles from the Kansas City Chiefs and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah from the Cleveland Browns. By Tuesday, we started hearing that Poles had accepted the position with the Chicago Bears so it was all hands on deck for Adofo-Mensah, that’s when the reporting kicked in.
We saw reporters camping out in the below-zero Minnesota weather yesterday at the Vikings facilities. That resulted in a 90 second video that was kicked off with a bang. An unknown voice planning to cancel Kwesi’s return flight out of the Twin Cities.
Next up, we’ve got people calling over to Manny’s Steakhouse to see if the back party room was reserved for the evening, which it was. Still others were speculating on more strategic dining opportunities like Kyndred Hearth over on the grounds in Viking Lakes.
The research didn’t stop Wednesday morning as the news began to appear imminent and a flight log was uncovered for one of the private planes owned by the Vikings Wilf ownership group, the destination…Minneapolis, MN on Wednesday morning.
All of this in the last 24-30 hours of real-time and all of this for the lower profile general manager position!?
Given these developments, count me in as one of those excited to see how the process plays out when teams start to battle for the head coaching candidates as early as later this week.
Aj Mansour is a member of The Power Trip Morning Show on KFAN and works for iHeartMedia and the Vikings Radio Network. He’s also a senior writer for VikingsTerritory.com. Be sure to follow him on social media for the latest Vikings news and big opinions – @AjKFAN