Vikings conclude interviews with General Manager candidates

Getting near the end of the process

It’s been nearly two weeks since the Minnesota Vikings dismissed Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman, and it appears that at least part of the process of replacing them will soon be reaching a conclusion.

The Vikings have completed their interviews with all eight general manager candidates that they had requested interviews with. If your memory needs refreshing, here’s who they interviewed for the job.

• Monti Ossenfort, Tennessee Titans VP of Football Operations
• Catherine Raiche, Philadelphia Eagles VP of Football Operations
• Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Cleveland Browns VP of Football Operations
• John Spytek, Tampa Bay Buccaneers VP of Football Operations
• Brandon Brown, Philadelphia Eagles Director of Player Personnel
• Ryan Poles, Kansas City Chiefs Executive Director of Player Personnel
• Glenn Cook, Cleveland Browns VP of Player Personnel
• Eliot Wolf, New England Patriots Executive

This first round of interviews was conducted virtually, and unless I miss my guess there will be in-person interviews for the people that the team is most interested in hiring here in the very near future.

So far this offseason, none of the teams with GM openings (Minnesota, Chicago, New York Giants, and Las Vegas) have hired anyone to fill that role. There have yet to be any new coaches hired by the teams that have openings there, either. I’m assuming that means that the process to hire a GM. . .which Mark Wilf had said was the team’s first priority this offseason. . .will be done relatively soon here so the process of finding the team’s next head coach can get underway in earnest while all the leading candidates are still available.

The team has already had a handful of head coaching interviews, but whoever they hire as their new GM will obviously have some input into how the rest of the process is handled.

So, hopefully, we’ll be seeing a new leader in the front office with the Vikings here relatively soon so they can start guiding the team through the 2022 offseason and into the NFL Draft. Once the proverbial white smoke starts rising from Eagan, we’ll let you know what the verdict is.