Vikings, Bears hire general managers

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings have hired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their general manager, taking an innovative turn with a Ivy League-educated data expert from Cleveland’s front office who once worked on Wall Street.

Adofo-Mensah, the vicepresident of football operations for the Browns for the past two years, was one of two finalists the Vikings identified from an initial pool of eight candidates. His contract was finalized on Wednesday night.

The other finalist was Kansas City executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles, who was hired as general manager of the Chicago Bears on Tuesday before he made it to Minnesota for his visit.

“There is so much to appreciate about this organization, an existing nucleus of talent on the roster, top-notch facilities, passionate fans and smart people throughout the building who are committed to winning,” AdofoMensah said.

The 40-year-old Adofo-Mensah has economics degrees from both Princeton, where he was a junior varsity basketball player, and Stanford. He is a native of New Jersey, just like Vikings owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf.