Vikings GM Race Is Tighter Than You Think
The Minnesota Vikings GM search is heating up — and The Real Forno Show has the full breakdown. Host Tyler Forness, beat writer and NFL draft guru, sits down with coaching and GM candidate expert A.J. Schulte to rank all seven candidates vying to be Minnesota’s next general manager.
Breaking down every Vikings GM candidate — and who should actually get the job.
Key Takeaways from This Episode:
Rob Brzezinski (Internal) — Described as a “low risk, safe hire without a lot of upside.” His existing relationship with Kevin O’Connell is a genuine plus, but questions remain about whether he’s ready to lead a franchise.
Dave Ziegler (Titans) — His Raiders tenure was too tied to Josh McDaniels to evaluate fairly. Schulte called him “a risk that is completely unnecessary.”
Nolan Teasley (Seahawks) — A widely respected pro scout who was central to the Russell Wilson trade and Seattle’s recent draft turnaround. May be “a year too soon,” but worth a serious look.
R.J. Gillen (49ers) — Unique background spanning the NBA, law, and NFL front offices. A multi-role contributor in San Francisco’s winning culture.
John McKay (Rams) — Has a pre-existing relationship with O’Connell from their time together in LA. Schulte praised his organizational ability: “He’s going to come in and lead the committees — develop the vision, build this from the ground up.”
Terrance Gray (Bills) — Eleven years with the Vikings organization before Brandon Beane poached him. Widely respected evaluator who has won the league’s internal Bart Award for best draft multiple times.
Chad Alexander (Chargers) — The consensus top choice. Schulte’s pick #1, Forness’s pick #1. Culture-first leader who learned from Ozzie Newsome and builds trust from day one.
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I was thinking we'd hear this week....But I have my doubts about that with the owners meetings this week.
i'll bet its into June now with Memorial Day etc..
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Patience is a virtue. That’s the takeaway early this week regarding the Minnesota Vikings’ search for a new general manager. SI.com‘s Albert Breer updated the search, claiming an announcement may take a bit longer than expected.
Minnesota’s ownership group appears willing to let the process breathe before making its next front-office call.
Perhaps a couple more weeks are needed to identify the next GM?
Breer on the Vikings’ GM Process
Breer offered a rather insightful level-set of Minnesota’s current GM situation, with all eyes on the next guy.
He wrote, “The Vikings’ GM search could take a bit. Minnesota has now worked through a list of eight candidates, interviewing assistant GMs from the 49ers (RJ Gillen), Bills (Terrance Gray), Broncos (Reed Burckhardt), Dolphins (Kyle Smith), Lions (Ray Agnew), Rams (John McKay), Seahawks (Nolan Teasley) and Titans (Dave Ziegler) over Zoom last week, as well as interim GM Rob Brzezinski.”
“The interviews lasted about an hour, with owner Mark Wilf and coach Kevin O’Connell running the show and COO Andrew Miller and others from the Wilf management group taking part as well. They covered some big-picture topics and drilled down on how candidates saw their team. The plan is for the Vikings to regroup today to map out the coming weeks. The trouble is this is a bit of a busy week for the franchise.”
Breer continued, “The expectation is that the Twin Cities will be awarded the 2028 draft at the meetings, so a big contingent, including ownership, will be in Orlando for that. And with a holiday weekend coming up, there’s a good chance in-person interviews with finalists for the job won’t happen until next week.”
“Without competition for candidates out there—the Vikings are the only team looking for a GM — Minnesota can afford to be patient. That said, there’s also an acknowledgment there that it’d be good to get the new GM in soon so he can get started with O’Connell before the summer break commences in mid-June.”
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The Vikings must ask for permission from the teams they wish to interview candidates from. Hence why there is a list. Yet, if a candidate presently is not on a team, then there is no way to know unless the Vikings or the candidate's agent wish it to be our there. So, there is no reason to believe that former Assistant GM, Alec Halaby isn't a candidate. Just my 2 cents.
May the sun always shine on your solar panels.
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Buddah wrote:
The Vikings must ask for permission from the teams they wish to interview candidates from. Hence why there is a list. Yet, if a candidate presently is not on a team, then there is no way to know unless the Vikings or the candidate's agent wish it to be our there. So, there is no reason to believe that former Assistant GM, Alec Halaby isn't a candidate. Just my 2 cents.
The only reason is that it was reported that Halaby was getting into a new career path outside of football when he resigned. That was the report. Whether that's accurate or not, who knows.
Vikings ready to move on to next round of GM interviews
The Vikings are moving closer to naming their next General Manager.
Owner Mark Wilf said at Tuesday’s league meetings that the team has reached the end of their first round of “exploratory interviews” for the post. The Vikings fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah this offseason and executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski has been handling the responsibilities on a temporary basis.
“Now we’re gonna go more in-depth in the coming days, more in-person versus virtual, and I’m sure we’ll have some great conversations,” Wilf said, via Emily Leiker of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Brzezinski is a candidate to take the job on a permanent basis. 49ers assistant GM RJ Gillen, Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray, Rams assistant GM John McKay, Seahawks assistant GM Nolan Teasley, Titans assistant GM Dave Ziegler, Lions Assistant GM Ray Agnew, and Broncos assistant GM Reed Burckhardt were also involved in the first round of interviews for the job.
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Pack your patience, this isn't close to the end yet.
Vikings care less about evaluator vs. cap than they do about GM who leads. Doesn't sound like they'll split who leads business vs. evaluation.
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) May 19, 2026
"We still ultimately need to have a leader who represents ownership who can bring the building together," team owner Mark Wilf told me.
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Multiple Vikings candidates here for accelerator. Does that help?
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) May 19, 2026
"I'll have informal conversations with them," Wilf said, "but of course the meat of the conversations are in the interviews & spending time in the facility & getting to know them really better." https://t.co/LeoiFONIWF
Multiple Vikings candidates here for accelerator. Does that help?
"I'll have informal conversations with them," Wilf said, "but of course the meat of the conversations are in the interviews & spending time in the facility & getting to know them really better."
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