The Vikings Added Two More Names to their Highly Anticipated GM Search

The Minnesota Vikings general manager search is in full swing, with multiple names now popping up as interview candidates. 

While interim GM Rob Brzezinski is certainly in the mix, Minnesota is doing their due diligence, and has hired a consulting firm to cast a wide net. The reported external candidates for the Vikings job are beginning to filter in, and show a clear pattern much different from the last time Minnesota had a GM search. 

According to James Palmer, the Vikings have now submitted requests to 49ers assistant GM RJ Gillen, Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray, and Titans assistant GM Dave Ziegler. 

Vikings Are Reportedly Bringing In Two More Candidates for the GM Job

After the failed Kwesi Adofo-Mensah experiment by going with a Wall Street analytics guy, the Vikings are going the opposite direction now. Every reported candidate so far for the job has a strong scouting background, and represents a 180-degree flip from what the last hire brought to the table. 

Terrence Gray spent 11 years with Vikings as a scout before being scooped up by the Bills in 2017. Gillen has been with the Niners for years, rising up from a scout to director or personnel to now assistant general manager. Ziegler is the Raiders former GM, and now has the assistant role with the Titans. 

It’s clear that the Vikings have a type, and as more names come out, they’ll surely fit the same mold of a heavy scouting background. Brzezinski is the only one not to fit in that box, although his respect from those in the building is sure to carry some weight during the interview process. 

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Is Rob Brzezinski the Favorite for the Job?

The timing for the search is certainly unusual. With the draft now in the past and much of free agency wrapped up, the new GM won’t get to put their fingerprints on the team for some time. So could Brzezinski just stay in the role? NFL Insider Albrert Breer thinks it’s a strong possibility. 

“They can go one of two ways, in my opinion,” Breer noted. “One path would be to permanently elevate longtime football-operations chief Rob Brzezinski to GM after he spent the past three months serving as interim GM. The other would be to keep Brzezinski in a role like the one Mike Disner serves with the Lions or the one Tony Pastoors has (and Kevin Demoff used to fill) with the Rams.” 

“If they take the latter path, Gray (Bills assistant GM), who cut his scouting teeth with the Vikings before Buffalo GM Brandon Beane poached him in 2017, would be at or near the top of the list. And I do think the Vikings and the search firm they’re working with have a short list they’re plucking from at this point, with perhaps a second list backing that one up.”

The Vikings have made it clear Brzezinski won’t hold any advantages in the search as Minnesota tries to find who to pair with head coach Kevin O’Connell. But, they also said they wouldn’t release the names of candidates, and those are already leaking like a sieve. 

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