Turns Out Kwesi Is Not to Blame for A Major Blunder
There was no shortage of moves during the Kwesi Adofo-Mensah era that could be criticized. The executive failed to reload the roster in the Draft, especially his 2022 class, which was quite the disaster. His free-agency track record was better, but his trades were mostly underwhelming.
But according to new reporting, one of the most criticized moves of his tenure — the Adam Thielen trade — might not have been his decision at all.
The deal was disappointing, though that might be phrased too positively. At the end of the day, the club sent draft capital worth a 4th-rounder to Carolina for a player that barely helped the Vikings win throughout the season and then requested his release.
There’s been a twist in that situation, provided by Purple Insider‘s Matthew Coller. According to his reporting, the recently-fired GM should not be on the receiving end of the blame for that deal, as the new interim GM, Rob Brzezinski, was the driving force behind it.
Coller recapped the situation from August. Jordan Addison was set to undergo his three-game suspension and Jalen Nailor suffered a hand injury that ultimately didn’t cost him time. Still, with thin depth behind the trio led by Justin Jefferson, the franchise wanted another pass-catcher in the building.
He wrote on Saturday, “Rather than push third-round draft pick Tai Felton into a role that he wasn’t ready to handle, they sought other options. They looked at the players around the NFL who could potentially be cut along with a handful of guys who were on their couch. One player seemed to make a lot of sense: Former Viking Adam Thielen. In Carolina Panthers camp, it was evident that Thielen was on his last legs. While Thielen had helped quarterback Bryce Young through some tough times in 2024, there did not appear to be much room on the depth chart for a past-his-prime receiver anymore.”
Thielen lost his once-underrated speed, but still had solid hands and was a good route runner. On paper, he looked like a reasonable WR3 option for his hometown team a year after recording 600 yards in only ten games.
The longtime Vikings receiver caught eight passes in his 11 games after returning to the Twin Cities, gaining 69 yards without scoring a touchdown. Needless to say, he wasn’t remotely close to being worth the draft capital sent to Carolina.
Coller continued, “Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who was fired on Friday by the team, called Carolina and gave them his price for Thielen. The Panthers asked for more. Adofo-Mensah held out. The cutdown deadline passed with Thielen still on Carolina’s roster (they cut Hunter Renfrow instead). Adofo-Mensah kept calling.”
That matched the reporting at the time. The Vikings were not willing to match the asking price. In hindsight, Adofo-Mensah made the right call. Unfortunately, Brzezinski overruled his colleague in the front office.
“As the season opener grew nearer and starting QB JJ McCarthy was getting ready for his first career start, the Vikings got desperate. Coaches needed another receiver because the front office hadn’t provided them with enough depth despite being aware of Addison’s suspension. Multiple sources told Purple Insider that executive vice president Rob Brzezinski called Carolina GM Dan Morgan to get the deal over the finish line because they felt Adofo-Mensah hadn’t been aggressive enough. Thus, Thielen became a Viking at the cost of what equated to a fourth-round pick,” Coller concluded.
If that version of events is accurate, the Thielen deal looks less like a GM misfire and more like a front-office scramble. And if Adofo-Mensah wasn’t even the one pushing the trade, it raises an uncomfortable question: how much real control did he actually have over personnel decisions in the first place? For a general manager, that’s a dangerous place to be — and it might explain why his tenure ended the way it did.
At the very least, it suggests the Thielen trade shouldn’t automatically land in Adofo-Mensah’s personal column of mistakes. Fair or not, general managers usually take the blame for everything that happens on their watch. But this time, the story appears more complicated than that. And if the decision truly came from elsewhere, it’s one more example of how messy Minnesota’s front office structure may have been behind the scenes.
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