On Feb. 1, The Athletic reported on the concerning details that occurred during Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s tenure as the Minnesota Vikings general manager. Nonetheless, one issue that former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe had was over the reporting on Adofo-Mensah’s paternity leave.
“Following the birth of his first child, the general manager left for paternity leave, missing about two weeks of training camp meetings and practices and working remotely during that stretch. Word of his time away from the team traveled quickly around the league. Among some rival executives and coaches, it was met with disbelief.
“In an NFL culture where many players, coaches, and executives proudly acknowledge missing the births of their children, taking time away to care for a newborn and support a partner remains uncommon… The Vikings were publicly supportive of Adofo-Mensah’s time away. He had made a commitment to his family well before the Vikings hired him.”
This part of the reporting didn’t sit well with Sharpe, who called out the Vikings for not having an issue with this when it happened in 2023. However, now that he’s been fired, Sharpe didn’t take kindly to the information portraying Adofo-Mensah’s paternity decision as problematic.
“Now this happened in ’23,” Sharpe said on the Feb. 1 edition of Nightcap about the reporting. “Why did you mention this in ’24? [And] Why didn’t you mention it in ’23 when it actually happened? Why didn’t you mention it last year? [And] Why are you trying to salt the man up and make him look bad now? You done fired him. Okay, he made a mistake. Everybody knows that Sam Darnold should have still been on that roster.”
Shannon Sharpe Doesn’t Hold Back on Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Report
Moreover, while Sharpe acknowledged that the biggest mistake Adofo-Mensah, as Vikings general manager, made was letting Darnold walk as a free agent to the Seattle Seahawks, he notes that missing two weeks of training camp shouldn’t have been leaked to the media, since there’s not much the general manager can do at that point in the calendar.
“[Adofo-Mensah] don’t have no impact on the game,“ Sharpe added. “He ain’t calling plays [and] he’s not throwing the football; he’s not catching the football. He’s not blocking [and] he’s not tackling. I’m not trying to diminish the front office people, but their role is not as important once training camp starts because, okay, there might be a situation where a player gets released, but if the player gets released, it’s not like he has to see that player in person.”
Vikings Reveal Reason for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Firing
Adofo-Mensah made three major mistakes during his time with the Vikings: Poor drafting, the team’s cap situation, and letting Darnold walk. While all three issues might have played a role in his firing, the team owner and president, Mark Wilf, explained the decision to part ways with Adofo-Mensah and move in a different direction.
“We held our end-of-the-season organizational meetings over a couple of weeks and then spent this past week as an ownership group reviewing, discussing, and how best to move forward,“ Wilf told reporters at his press conference. “This is a critical offseason. Ultimately, we felt the change was necessary in football operations, and did not feel comfortable going forward into this offseason with the current leadership.
“It’s not about any one decision or move. We looked at the situation cumulatively; we just didn’t feel confident going through the the offseason, an additional draft, and free agency with this structure. We have an urgency to create a winning football team and establish sustainable success for our fans.”
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