Reporters Knew Kwesi’s Seat was Hot and Just Never Told Us

There are a lot of people inside the Minnesota Vikings organization who deserve blame for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s firing. And for now, that’s what the Wilfs are sticking with.
Friday afternoon, Mark Wilf held a Zoom press conference where he revealed next to nothing about the Vikings’ thought process, in terminating their four-year general manager one day after he was spotted at the Senior Bowl, presumably scouting possible Vikings draft picks.
Kwesi keeping a close eye on linemen drills today. pic.twitter.com/nuzDOKHqax
— Jason Harmon (@JasonHarmonNFL) January 28, 2026
To make his firing even more confusing, it comes less than one year after ownership signed their now former general manager to a contract extension. In other words, the timing could not be stranger.
On Friday, however, Mark Wilf refused to get specific over why Adofo-Mensah was let go, repeatedly pointing to recent organizational meetings that led Vikings owners to the decision that Kwesi had to go.
#Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf on the decision to relieve Kwesi Adofo-Mensah of his duties. pic.twitter.com/mnMM0vDECu
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 30, 2026
NFL insiders unsurprised by MN Vikings firing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah?
While today’s firing may have been a shock to the system of unassuming MN Vikings fans, I guess it wasn’t all that surprising to local or national NFL insiders.
Since Adofo-Mensah’s firing, reporters around the league have been quick to tell their followers about how unsurprising this move really is. Because behind the NFL scenes, apparently, there have been rumors surrounding Kwesi’s job security for weeks.
From local reporters like Alec Lewis (The Athletic) and Kevin Seifert (ESPN) to national guys like Tom Pelissero (NFL Network) and Adam Schefter (ESPN)… Kwesi’s been in trouble for a while, even though the public never really caught wind of it.
As Adam mentions here, there have been rumors for a while about a power struggle between coaches and the Vikings' front office. But to the best that I've ever been able to find out, that tension never led to any changes in decision-making authority … before today. https://t.co/y4GtLeV1MT
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) January 30, 2026
I should clarify: The move being made is not a surprise to anyone in the building or across the NFL (agents, execs, coaches, etc.). It's the timing that blindsided. Vikings ownership, though, went through a pretty methodical process the last few weeks. Decided it was time. https://t.co/MZACrxp5dL
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) January 30, 2026
💻 @TomPelissero
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) January 30, 2026
Breaking news from Minnesota as reportedly #SKOL has fired its GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah — WOW!!#NFL pic.twitter.com/scLREdJI2n
If indeed Kwesi was the guy who steered the Minnesota Vikings away from paying/tagging Sam Darnold or didn’t want to send more assets to New England for Drake May, this firing will make a bit more sense.
Maybe we find out in the coming days/weeks that reveal it was Adofo-Mensah who wanted to pass on Aaron Rodgers or not to increase their offer to Daniel Jones. These are the QB decisions that ultimately sank Minnesota’s 2025 ship.
Maybe reporters should report rumblings in the future…?
It’s also possible that whatever was happening behind the scenes at TCO Performance Center was caused by something completely outside of Minnesota’s failed QB experiments in 2025.
Of course, the only way for us to find out the source of this Vikings tension is for reporters — with sources inside the Minnesota facility and around the NFL — to actually report on it.
Over the past couple months, there have been some “rumblings” of tension in the organization… maybe even some schisms, but none of those were tied directly back to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Ope, we found another schism inside TCO Performance Center last year — and this one was created when the the Vikings let Sam Darnold walk… https://t.co/oHCkbrkFBX
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) January 27, 2026
So maybe Kwesi’s firing wasn’t a shock to media members who knew things they weren’t telling us. But for those same reporters to then turn around, after the fact, and claim that they knew something about the situation and just didn’t report on it… well, that’s a pretty sick brag, I guess.
Now that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is gone, maybe it will be easier for national and local reporters to unload their Vikings’ baggage for fans to finally consume. That’d be cool. Because, whenever they get time, we’d like to know what’s happening with our favorite football team… since that’s what they are paid for.
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