LET'S GO KWESI!

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Cody Carpentier

@CarpentierNFL

·15h

Vikings are finalizing a deal to hire Browns’ Vice President of Football Operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their next general manager, per multiple sources.

They are working diligently to add Catherine Raiche as the Assistant General Manager as well, per source.

Heads will be exploding...

She was an interesting GM candidate, so I like the idea of bringing her in as an assistant GM and if she gets poached for a GM role in a couple years, then that could mean an extra draft pick. I am not too worried about needing a more experienced assistant GM, since there are still some very experienced people in the front office.

https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/2021-browns-draft-picks

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

This is good news. One can make arguments that the previous administration made errors in coaching, culture, free agency,  contracts or trades, but one thing the Vikings have done exceptionally well is draft.

I am so excited for the fresh perspective to the draft and free agency. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

This is good news. One can make arguments that the previous administration made errors in coaching, culture, free agency,  contracts or trades, but one thing the Vikings have done exceptionally well is draft.

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

@"ArizonaViking" said:

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

Before we pass judgement, let's at least see what he can do...He just might surprise us all.

@"ArizonaViking" said:

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

Before we pass judgement, let's at least see what he can do...He just might surprise us all.

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

@"Havoc1649" said:

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

The problem is your assumptions are not supported by reality. He’s spent 9 years at the NFL level involved in all aspects of management, to include player evaluation the entire time. I don’t know what you think research and development people do in an NFL front office, but the primary job is literally in scouting/evaluation. “Scouting” is essentially the starter level personnel job in the NFL. As one moves up from the bottom, they move into jobs like Kwesi has had. Still evaluating talent, but on a broader scale for the team - managing it. 
Secondly, Kwesi is NOT an “analytics” guy. I keep seeing that claimed, but I think it’s based in a lack of understanding what portfolio or investment analysts do or how they think. I’ve done the same work and it is not analytics, other than in the essence it’s a tiny part of the process. Kwesi, like myself is driven by evidence. Analytics is but a tiny piece of a whole. Analytics are worthless unless they are utilized within context. 
An example: analytics might be developed to put a score on win/loss by QB and quantify it. Is this useful in the context of determining success? Of course not, it’s utterly worthless, or what I like to call a spurious relationship.

He’s going to be a long way from “Moneyball”. In fact, the NFL is far from money ball because the context is worlds different than something like hitting a ball in baseball. There are too many moving parts in football and game plans, to truly utilize “analytics” in the sense that baseball does. 
How will he do? Time will tell, but the idea he’s just some know nothing is not supported by anything. Quite the opposite. 

@"Havoc1649" said:

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

The problem is your assumptions are not supported by reality. He’s spent 9 years at the NFL level involved in all aspects of management, to include player evaluation the entire time. I don’t know what you think research and development people do in an NFL front office, but the primary job is literally in scouting/evaluation. “Scouting” is essentially the starter level personnel job in the NFL. As one moves up from the bottom, they move into jobs like Kwesi has had. Still evaluating talent, but on a broader scale for the team - managing it. 
Secondly, Kwesi is NOT an “analytics” guy. I keep seeing that claimed, but I think it’s based in a lack of understanding what portfolio or investment analysts do or how they think. I’ve done the same work and it is not analytics, other than in the essence it’s a tiny part of the process. Kwesi, like myself is driven by evidence. Analytics is but a tiny piece of a whole. Analytics are worthless unless they are utilized within context. 
An example: analytics might be developed to put a score on win/loss by QB and quantify it. Is this useful in the context of determining success? Of course not, it’s utterly worthless, or what I like to call a spurious relationship.

He’s going to be a long way from “Moneyball”. In fact, the NFL is far from money ball because the context is worlds different than something like hitting a ball in baseball. There are too many moving parts in football and game plans, to truly utilize “analytics” in the sense that baseball does. 
How will he do? Time will tell, but the idea he’s just some know nothing is not supported by anything. Quite the opposite. 

@"JustinTime18™" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: So the OP begs the question: Is it Queasy? Or Kwayzee? 

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·30m

By the way, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's first name is pronounced Kway-see. It rhymes with macy, not messy.

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

“My whole life, and not just my professional life, I have been really passionate about decision-making under uncertainty"

This quote from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is a good way to look at things, especially right now. There is a lot of uncertainty with the team and they need passion, energy and intelligence to lead the way. The challenges of the roster as is and possible changes to come require a balanced approach. Looking forward to seeing how things unfold. 

I mean I don't get the whole he doesn't have experience in football personnel complaints.

8 years at SF in R&D.  What do you think he did?  Design helmets, shoulder pads? Personnel evaluation.  Scouts watch tape and grade technique.  He compiles data.  You marry the two.

What do you think PFF is doing?  Why are they so popular with fans, they do EXACTLY what he's done.  Except he spent 7+ seasons in SF surrounded by football people and scouts and not "fans".  Is out of the question he didn't learn talent evaluation from the 49ers?

Analytics is already here dude.  This is an exciting movement to me.  Let scouts scout, then marry their evaluations with the analytics.  Belichik was ahead of his time in that he evaluated every damn possible variable to gain an edge, sadly including cheating with spying to deflated footballs, but he was constantly searching for anything to give his team an edge.

The margin for wins and losses is razor thin.  Look at us this season.  

I'm thrilled to hire a guy who is the smartest guy in the room, who listens, who learns.  We have tried the grizzled old guys with loads of experience who can't adapt or change. 

But let's not pretend this is some hedge fund manager whose only NFL experience is running FFL.  

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"supafreak84" said:

@"JustinTime18™" said:

Will Ragatz

@WillRagatz

·2h

"The Vikings plan to keep many scouts and front office members in place. They didn’t want massive changes in the scouting department, and since that’s not Adofo-Mensah’s background, he was more willing to accommodate those wishes than perhaps Ryan Poles would have been."

No time to be swapping out scouting staff.

Still have to laugh we hired a guy to assemble a championship NFL roster who's background "isn't in scouting" or football really at all for that matter, but instead stock trading and analytics. It's really no better then the Raiders taking a shot in the dark and hiring Mayock. I don't like it and think it's a questionable hiring at best, but no sense in grumbling about it anymore. He's our guy for the next four years and let's see what he can do

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Oh come on. No better than Mayock? Sure, neither have a background in scouting, but where Mayock had zero experience in an NFL front office, KAM has 9. What's more, Mayock had zero background in analytics, while KAM is supposedly some kind of analytics wunderkind. Princeton and Stanford educated. Experience on Wall Street in asset valuation, which IMO is a lot like player evaluation. According to the 49ers, he led efforts to "develop and implement advanced quantitative methods for game strategy and personnel evaluation." 

I keep saying it, but this is the future. In 20 years, we'll look back on NFL front offices and go "man, remember when these staffs were filled with ex NFL players? How stupid was that!!?" As if height/weight/speed somehow qualifies a human to make value decisions in a billion dollar organization. 

@"SFVikeFan" said: I mean I don't get the whole he doesn't have experience in football personnel complaints.

8 years at SF in R&D.  What do you think he did?  Design helmets, shoulder pads? Personnel evaluation.  Scouts watch tape and grade technique.  He compiles data.  You marry the two.

What do you think PFF is doing?  Why are they so popular with fans, they do EXACTLY what he's done.  Except he spent 7+ seasons in SF surrounded by football people and scouts and not "fans".  Is out of the question he didn't learn talent evaluation from the 49ers?

Analytics is already here dude.  This is an exciting movement to me.  Let scouts scout, then marry their evaluations with the analytics.  Belichik was ahead of his time in that he evaluated every damn possible variable to gain an edge, sadly including cheating with spying to deflated footballs, but he was constantly searching for anything to give his team an edge.

The margin for wins and losses is razor thin.  Look at us this season.  

I'm thrilled to hire a guy who is the smartest guy in the room, who listens, who learns.  We have tried the grizzled old guys with loads of experience who can't adapt or change. 

But let's not pretend this is some hedge fund manager whose only NFL experience is running FFL.  

First off - 100% I hope Kwesi is the best GM we ever had - premise

Nowhere I have seen a poster indicate that he was just a FFL guru or as another poster wanted as a strawman said that someone claimed he was a No Nothing???  

I get the novelty and excitement of having a new GM, I hope it works out.

But is it a decision that cannot be questioned?  

Let me put it this way:  Did the 49'ers fill his R&D position with someone else?  I don't think so.  Do the Vikings have or ever had a position in Research?  I don't see one.  I have never heard of the position he did for 7 years.  Was he a consultant in that position while doing other consulting work or was it a FT position with a salary?  I do not know but it looks like a created position to me.  Just saying. 

Now his 2 years with Cleveland was in an executive position that is on every organization's chart and to me that is experience in the NFL as an executive.  I get that he is brilliant and that is great wonderful I am pulling for him.......but I also expect a real learning curve with some mistakes along the way that a more experienced NFL'er would not have made. 

I guess I am in the Doubting Thomas position.... show me the Money/results.

Right now, I am very cautiously optimistic and will be very curious who he hires as the HC - first major decision.  I don't want a Ryans - 1 year as DC or even a McDaniel 1 year as OC with his ties to 49'ers.  I hope he makes a better decision then just old tie or allegiances.

Hope for the Best but these decisions can be questioned without being used as a strawman argument where someone puts words in your mouth, right?