Luv the Brez, not as GM...
I'm sure he'll keep the ship afloat for a short (important period) but he's not a personnel guy....Not in the old school way like a Ron Wolf or someone with that type of background...
I'd really like to see someone who lives by CHP (Can He Play) and just has that football player dna radar...Plus he (or she) is going to have to good people situation skills to work across the org.
Vikings have been bitten by shortfalls in both capacities. Hope they get this right, cause its bigger situation then who to choose at #18.
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After firing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Vikings owners named longtime team executive Rob Brzezinski their interim general manager, meaning he’ll oversee much of the offseason, including the draft.
This raises two important questions:
Is Brzezinski the right person to oversee important personnel decisions?
Could Brzezinski win the general manager job by performing well this winter and spring?
Brzezinski’s title is vice president of football operations. His specialty is managing the salary cap, and he’s very good at that.
He’s well-liked and respected throughout the organization and by people outside the organization who know him. If anyone in the organization was going to be able to rule by building consensus, it would be Brzezinski.
He does not, however, come from a scouting background, and most NFL general managers build their expertise and their résumés by proving themselves in the realm of player evaluation.
There are two somewhat-recent situations among Minnesota professional teams that could provide insights into the challenges Brzezinski will face.
Former Vikings General Manager Jeff Diamond joined the team as a public relations assistant in the mid-’70s and rose methodically through the organization. He was not a scout by trade, but he learned how to run the team by working in different departments. Like Brzezinski, he became proficient in salary cap maneuvering.
In 1998, Diamond’s best team lost in the NFC championship game. He was named NFL executive of the year, and he left to become president of the Tennessee Titans, who in Diamond’s first season came within a yard of winning the Super Bowl.
“Rob came in the door with the Vikings in 1999, when I was on my way out,’’ Diamond said. ”I’ve known Rob for a long time. We have a good relationship. And I think he will be a candidate for the job.
“Back when I was a GM, there were more people who had my type of background, who came up through operations, through contract work, salary cap work, negotiations and running the organization as a whole, managing all of the departments.
“One thing that fans don’t necessarily get is how many different areas there are in an organization like the Vikings, how many things you have to manage. It’s not just player evaluation, although that is an important piece.’’
Diamond was known for friendly collaboration with his employees and players. “But someone has to break the tie, and that’s your job,” Diamond said. ”I believe that we almost always reached consensus on our biggest decisions.’’
Brzezinski’s profile is similar to Diamond’s.
There was another relatively recent example of a local team hiring someone who wasn’t a player or personnel evaluator. When Terry Ryan resigned as Twins general manager in 2007, the Twins were a model franchise, having fought off contraction in 2001, reached the ALCS in 2002 and reached the playoffs in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006 despite a relatively low payroll.
Assistant general manager Bill Smith replaced Ryan. Smith’s strengths were in facilities and business management. He was hired largely so the Twins could keep Ryan’s lieutenants in place.
Smith played a large role in designing Target Field and the Twins’ spring training facility in Fort Myers and was known for his obsessive work ethic.
The Twins fired Smith after the 2011 season. His résumé wasn’t bad — the Twins made the playoffs, or at least a Game 163, in 2008, 2009 and 2010. But the 2011 season exposed a severe lack of major league-ready young talent, especially in the pitching department, that would make the team uncompetitive for years.
If Brzezinski is asked only to shepherd the Vikings for a few months, he’s well-positioned to do good work. If he’s going to be a long-term general manager, he’ll have to quickly figure out which personnel experts he can trust and how much influence he should allow head coach Kevin O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores to have.
STRIB
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
supafreak84 wrote:
The Wilfs are Woody Johnson level awful, despite the cushy new stadium and fancy facilities.
Yup, that is exactly what was discussed in the link. That's why I say, the philosophies of the Wilfs and how they choose to run the football organization are seriously flawed. Four playoff wins in 21 years is negligence at the highest level and the Wilfs are the one common variable.
Its actually 3 unfortunately.
With Rob Brzezinski as acting GM, Vikings have a people person in charge of offseason reset
Brzezinski’s affability positions him well to lead rooms full of strong opinions as the Vikings look to make key addition in the quarterback room and land an impact draft class.
INDIANAPOLIS – Even in the midst of an on-camera interview down the hallway, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell noticed the laughter Rob Brzezinski elicited from gathered local media on Feb. 24 at the NFL scouting combine during his first address since being named the team’s interim general manager.
“I haven’t gotten a laugh like that in five years,” said O’Connell to the group later before heading off to his next responsibility. “Interrupted our segment.”
Which laugh reached O’Connell’s ears, exactly, was unclear. Brzezinski, the Vikings’ tenured cap guru acting as captain of the ship until after the NFL draft in late April, received several with little effort during a 20-minute discussion.
That personableness is a super power during the stretch of NFL calendar through which Brzezinski is guiding the Vikings when relationships, information gathering and teamwork are all paramount.
Brzezinski expressed his gratitude to be trusted with this role but was quick to say he believes ownership felt comfortable with that decision not because of his personal résumé, but due to the entire team around him.
He said he’s “really excited to see everybody shine.”
That affability informs, to a degree, what Brzezinski’s role in decisionmaking looks like while tagged with that tricky interim title.
“He’s unbelievable with people,” O’Connell said during his own media session. “He knows how to connect people and bring out the best in people. That’s what we need right now, and that’s what Rob has brought and will continue to bring.”
Being able to align a room on draft night can be the difference between landing a play-now, future franchise favorite and selecting a forced fit who doesn’t make it past the second or third year of their rookie contract.
One of the first meetings that occurred following the change at general manager, Brzezinski said, was with O’Connell, ownership and other high-ranking staff to discuss vision and philosophy for the team heading into its next chapter.
That included establishing guard rails to protect that vision. Brzezinski said he views the partnership between general manager and head coach as being akin to a marriage, but he was asked by ownership to take the responsibility of final call if an agreement can’t be reached on a decision.
“Ultimately this is about the people, and the alignment, and you know K.O. and I are gonna work very, very closely together to make sure that the personnel staff and the coaching staff are aligned and that we’re just going to stack good decisions here in this time period,” Brzezinski said.
Brzezinski’s background as a strong negotiator directly interacting with players, coaches, agents and front-office staffers is less traditional for a general manager. He can use the relationships he has formed with Vikings staffers and knowledge of their experience and talent as a stop-gap anywhere it might be needed because Brzezinski didn’t spend years watching tape. Connections built inside and out of TCO Performance Center have front-office staffers, coaches and agents alike advocating for Brzezinski to land the gig permanently.
As O’Connell said, there’s “very few times” a situation is new for Brzezinski.
.
Brzezinski seemed at ease, confident as he spoke Tuesday. When O’Connell quipped about the laughter, Brzezinski was quick to smile and jest back, “I think they’re laughing at me,” before diving back in to an answer about draft needs.
While Brzezinski wouldn’t outright say if he wants the Vikings’ general manager job full-time, his answer sounded like a pitch to the one group he may still have to win over as all GMs do: The fans.
“I’ve been here a long time,” Brzezinski said. “I know how much this franchise means to our fans. I just want to be a small part of one day delivering that championship.”
STRIB
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Personnel decisions should always be made through collaboration between GM, coaches and scouting staff. I think we all assumed that was already happening with Kwesi, but from the sounds of it, that may not be true. If this draft is a true collaboration and it goes well, I see no reason why Breeze should not get the GM job. Not sure he wants it though.
Going back to Kwesi, and this is WILDLY-reckless speculation. But I kinda wonder if the timing of the Flores contract and Kwesi's departure was more than just a coincidence. Could it be that Flores was pissed off that Kwesi traded his nose tackle Harrison Phillips? I think most of us assumed that was a collaborative decision, because most decisions are, but I'm not so sure anymore.
Who knows, if Flores did not approve of that move, he may have given the Vikings an ultimatum. Sure, I want to come back, but on one condition...
MaroonBells wrote:
Personnel decisions should always be made through collaboration between GM, coaches and scouting staff. I think we all assumed that was already happening with Kwesi, but from the sounds of it, that may not be true. If this draft is a true collaboration and it goes well, I see no reason why Breeze should not get the GM job. Not sure he wants it though.Going back to Kwesi, and this is WILDLY-reckless speculation. But I kinda wonder if the timing of the Flores contract and Kwesi's departure was more than just a coincidence. Could it be that Flores was pissed off that Kwesi traded his nose tackle Harrison Phillips? I think most of us assumed that was a collaborative decision, because most decisions are, but I'm not so sure anymore.
Who knows, if Flores did not approve of that move, he may have given the Vikings an ultimatum. Sure, I want to come back, but on one condition...
^^^
Could be? Only thing I think I think is that something happened after the season ended, one bigger issue that tilted the Wilfs to can KAM far too late.
As u say its all just reckless speculation on the inter webs..We may never know the true story here.
I do wonder though if KOC stumbles badly in 2026, if BFlo is the in-house de-facto replacement? Just more reckless speculation.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Well if we're just speculating recklessly... ;)
KAM had more riding on JJM than anyone in the building I think. While I'm sure KOC signed off on the pick, he clearly couldn't get what he wanted out of JJM and the injuries compounded that. He's been backhanding JJM in pressers for the last few months, it's not that hard to spot even when we're talking about a guy who's the consummate politician.
I think they ended up post-season where KAM is thinking if JJM pans out I'm keeping this job, and I'm sticking to our long-term vision/plan that we came up with to try to get there. Meantime you have KOC not liking this, figuring another year of stumbling on offense could put him out of a job. Flores looking to return but also not liking how this qb is wasting a top defensive effort. And Jefferson who local beat guys characterized as having been willing to be patient this past year but there may be a limit to that, wondering what's next. A costly roster loaded with vets that ought to be in the playoffs at a minimum added to the situation.
It seems to me that all of this added up to KOC and possibly Flores going to ownership and saying we can't run with JJM next year as the only option, you have to move this g.m. out the door and let us do what we want. And I'm still not exactly sure what that is. This combine week has made it less clear than it was before, and it was clear as mud to begin with. But anyway that led to the weird timing of the firing and pretty much saying we'll just put Brez in as referee and let you guys do what you want. No idea if that's going to work out.
We can blame KAM for bad drafts and rightfully so since the buck has to stop somewhere, but they've gone from a numbers guy with no personnel background to... a numbers guy with no personnel background. The same scouting department has mostly been there for years, decades even. They haven't hit a home run in the draft since 2015 and before that I can't recall when. And they have had some real duds as well. I really feel the team needs a front office overhaul, not necessarily Brez because he's great at the cap, but saying as the Strib said today that they like him because he lightens the mood... I mean, is that what we need to win a title, a light mood? I think we need competent drafting and I don't know where we are going to get it. But I digress, on we go in purple land as always.
I got two concerns about Brez that would give me pause as him being hired for GM:
1). Exec Style - I dont think he's alpha enough to set an agenda and enforce it. I think he's more consensus seeker
2). Not a personnel background which I think we really need as a super-power in the next GM
I agree with others that the Vikings may have to clean house within the college scouting/talent evaluation. Brez not having that personnel background would not be the guy to oversee such an effort.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
I think that ideally the Wilfs should name Brez as team president & bring in a GM from outside the organization. Since GMs want to hire their own HC & since that's not going to happen here due to the Wilfs infatuation with KOC, the GM & KOC would then report to Brez independently.
purplefaithful wrote:
I got two concerns about Brez that would give me pause as him being hired for GM:1). Exec Style - I dont think he's alpha enough to set an agenda and enforce it. I think he's more consensus seeker
2). Not a personnel background which I think we really need as a super-power in the next GMI agree with others that the Vikings may have to clean house within the college scouting/talent evaluation. Brez not having that personnel background would not be the guy to oversee such an effort.
Be careful what you wish for.
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