Will Rob Brzezinski Be the Next Vikings GM?
As the Minnesota Vikings prepare for the NFL Draft at the end of the month with interim GM Rob Brzezinski taking a leading role, there is speculation whether Brzezinski himself will be named the new Vikings general manager after the draft is over. Vikings Won’t Conduct a Search Until After the Draft One of the tidbits of information that came out of the NFL Owners Meeting last week was that the Vikings have not begun their search for a new general manager and don’t intend to do so until after the draft. That was a slight update from Mark Wilf’s initial statement on Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s firing, when he said the Vikings would conduct an extensive search but not name a new general manager until after the draft.
This is the busiest time of year for front office personnel involved with scouting and managing both free agency and the draft, including potential candidates for the Vikings’ general manager position. From that standpoint, it makes some sense that the Vikings wouldn’t begin their GM search until after the busy time is over after the draft. On the other hand, coaching searches and interviews happen during crunch time with coaches in the playoffs when coaching candidates have even less time to prepare and conduct interviews.
Brzezinski the Leading Candidate? The fact that the Vikings haven’t started their search for a new general manager may be one of several signs that they may be leaning toward giving Rob Brzezinski the job after the draft. In particular, the Wilfs may view this as essentially an extended interview and trial run for Brzezinski with draft weekend as the final test.
Brzezinski would need to pass that test and want the job- which is also a question- but by putting off their formal GM search the Wilfs are giving Brzezinski every opportunity to land the job if he wants it. There has also been some reporting by The Athletic recently that there is significant internal support for Brzezinski to be named the new general manager and that the search for a new GM following the draft isn’t expected to be a long one. Those are a couple other tidbits that point toward Brzezinski being the favorite to land the job.
Brzezinski’s Fit in the Vikings’ Leadership Structure Rob Brzezinski has been with the Vikings for 27 years, including the entirety of the Wilfs’ ownership tenure. He has been the EVP of Football Operations and salary cap guru for over a decade. But he came up on the business side of football operations- business administration, legal affairs, salary cap management and contract negotiations- with degrees in law and education.
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