CLEVELAND — The Minnesota Vikings have hired Cleveland Browns Vice Presidents of Football Operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their new general manager.
The Browns will receive a third-round compensatory pick in each of the next two drafts because he was hired as part of the league's revised league policy on "Equal Employment and Workplace Diversity."
The Browns third-round draft picks since 2000:
- 2021- Anthony Schwartz
- 2020- Jordan Elliott, Jacob Phillips
- 2019- Sione Takitaki
- 2018- Chad Thomas
- 2017- Larry Ogunjobi
- 2016- Carl Nassib, Shon Coleman, Cody Kessler
- 2015- Duke Johnson, Xavier Cooper
- 2014- Christian Kirksey, Terrance West
- 2013- Leon McFadden
- 2012- John Hughes
- 2010- Colt McCoy
- 2006- Travis Wilson
- 2005- Charlie Frye
- 2003- Chris Crocker
- 2002- Melvin Fowler
- 2001- James Jackson
- 2000- Travis Prentice, JaJaun Dawson
The Vikings targeted Adofo-Mensah and Kansas City executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles as their finalists.
Poles was hired on Tuesday as Chicago’s general manager. Adofo-Mensah also interviewed with the Bears.
Before coming to Berea as VP of Operations at the Browns, Adofo-Mensah held titles such as commodities trader and portfolio manager in various Wall Street ventures. He landed his first football job in 2013. He was a manager of football research and development for the San Francisco 49ers.
Adofo-Mensah was a former walk-on basketball player at Princeton. He has worked alongside football veterans such as Vic Fangio, Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch and others.
When he took the job with the Browns, he promptly embraced his new work setting.
"I think my background was a positive because I did not have any preconceived notions or biases," Adofo-Mensah said when he was first hired in 2020 to a group of local reporters. "When I sat in a room with great evaluators that I have been around in San Francisco, I just took everything they told me. I tried to find the intuition behind it. I ask 'why' a lot. You will find that out about me. I wanted to know even the most simple question. You might think it is simple, but I am building the complex bridge that will get me somewhere complex."
During his time as VP of Operations, he worked closely with Andrew Berry and assisted him with day-to-day operations in the department.
"We are beyond excited that Kwesi has been named General Manager of the Minnesota Vikings,” Berry said. “Kwesi’s infectious energy, critical thinking skills, collaborative spirit and expertise across the football operations/player personnel spectrum made a lasting footprint here in a short period of time. These same characteristics will make him an exceptional leader, problem-solver and roster architect for the Vikings.”
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
