49ers Hire an Old Friend of the Vikings
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was unemployed for about 3.5 weeks. The Minnesota Vikings fired him on January 30th — rather unexpectedly based on the timing — and the San Francisco 49ers, Adofo-Mensah’s first NFL employer, swooped in on February 23rd.
Minnesota’s former GM is back in an NFL building after a short hiatus, and San Francisco moved quickly to add him.
Adofo-Mensah will hold a vague title of “personnel executive” for the 49ers.
San Francisco Adds a Familiar Evaluator to Lynch’s Inner Circle
No time off for Mr. Adofo-Mensah.
SF Hires Kwesi
The 49ers reunited with one of their own on Tuesday, as NBC Sports’ Josh Alper announced, “Former Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has found a new job. 49ers General Manager John Lynch said at a Tuesday press conference that Adofo-Mensah is joining the team as a personnel executive. The Vikings fired Adofo-Mensah in January after four seasons with the team.”
“This is Adofo-Mensah’s second time working for the 49ers. He was their manager of football research and development from 2013-2016 and the director of football research and development from 2017-2019. Adofo-Mensah worked under Lynch in the latter position.”
The timing is absolutely fabulous for Adofo-Mensah; free agency is 12 days away, and the NFL draft six weeks after that. The new post in San Francisco, even if the title is strange, keeps him relevant in NFL terms and gives him a possible path back to a general manager post in a few years.
A Job Description TBD?
Upon learning of Adofo-Mensah’s new venture, Vikings fans asked, “What is a personnel executive?”
Generally speaking, Adofo-Mensah is known for his analytical and “moneyball” background, though he often didn’t live up to that reputation in Minnesota. NinersWire‘s Kyle Posey claimed Tuesday that San Francisco would give Adofo-Mensah a more formal title later in the offseason.
He explained, “The San Francisco 49ers are welcoming back an old friend to the front office. No, it’s not Trent Baalke. Former Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will be back in the fold as a personnel executive, according to general manager John Lynch. Adofo-Mensah has been in the building and around; the 49ers are just waiting to finalize his title, which will come after the NFL Draft.”
“Kwesi began his NFL career under Baalke and Jim Harbaugh in 2013. He worked with Kyle Shanahan and Lynch through 2019, before leaving for the Cleveland Browns in 2020, where he was named the Vice President of Football Operations. Around that time, Cleveland was making a big analytical push, and Kwesi fit what they wanted to do. He spent 2022 through 2026 as the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings.”
His role will become clearer, probably in May or June.
Kwesi’s MIN Tenure
Adofo-Mensah’s tenure in Minnesota proved bittersweet. The Vikings had the NFL’s fifth-best record on his watch, and he successfully transitioned the club from the Mike Zimmer era to the Kevin O’Connell era, offloading large, aging contracts for Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Eric Kendricks, among others.
But Adofo-Mensah’s scourge occurred in April — like every April. He featured a 17% to 20% success rate in the draft, only finding about five players in four drafts to brag about: Jordan Addison, Will Reichard, Dallas Turner, Jalen Nailor, and perhaps Donovan Jackson or Levi Drake Rodriguez. Adofo-Mensah’s drafting habits became so poor that fans often accepted poor classes, while hoping free agency would be enough to field a competitive football team.
The former Vikings boss also bungled the Sam Darnold decision last offseason. He could’ve franchised-tagged Darnold and traded him elsewhere for draft capital or re-signed him for a year or two after Darnold delivered 35 passing touchdowns for Minnesota in 2024. Adofo-Mensah did neither, and Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks, winning the Super Bowl 11 months later.
Meanwhile, Adofo-Mensah’s job and entire reputation could’ve been salvaged by J.J. McCarthy. Yet, heading into the 2026 offseason, nobody knows whether McCarthy will have QB1 staying power, as his 2025 campaign was upended by a flurry of injuries and the league’s last-ranked quarterback efficiency.
SF as a Trade Partner as Time Passes
Speaking of McCarthy, the Vikings are in the market for a new quarterback this offseason, either to compete with McCarthy this summer or blatantly take his job. Some fans and analysts have landed on 49ers QB2 Mac Jones as the right candidate, even if San Francisco has claimed that Jones isn’t for sale.
A handful of Vikings-themed voices on social media insinuated Tuesday that San Francisco won’t trade Jones to Minnesota now that Adofo-Mensah is in the mix. But that just doesn’t make sense because Adofo-Mensah isn’t in charge of trades. He’s a personnel executive. He doesn’t have veto power over Lynch.
In fact, over time, with Adofo-Mensah in the 49ers’ front office, trades between Minnesota and San Francisco could become more frequent. O’Connell stated Tuesday that he and Adofo-Mensah remain close friends.
A communication pipeline may be more clearly established with San Francisco, especially over time, as the wounds of his termination heal.
Adofo-Mensah will turn 45 in October.
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