The Bears search for a new GM continued on Thursday. The team announced they had completed interviews for both Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Champ Kelly to fill the vacancy left by Ryan Pace.
Adofo-Mensah has worked in the Browns front office since March 2020 as their vice president of football operations. In Cleveland, Adofo-Mensah worked closely with GM Andrew Berry with roster and strategy decisions. He also assisted Berry with the day-to-day operation of the team. Before he was in Cleveland, Adofo-Mensah spent seven years in the San Francisco 49ers organization, including two years as the director of football research and development.
Adofo-Mensah’s background before football is a bit different from most other candidates. Before taking a job with the 49ers, he was on Wall Street, working as a portfolio manager, and a commodities trader.
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Kelly is an internal candidate for the Bears. He’s been with the team for seven seasons, working as director of pro scouting and assistant director of player personnel.
Here’s more on Kelly’s bio from the Bears’ website:
“In his current role, Kelly works collaboratively with Bears Director of Player Personnel Josh Lucas and College Scouting Director Mark Sadowski in directing both the Bears pro personnel and college scouting departments.
As the Bears Director of Pro Scouting, Kelly oversaw all pro player evaluations, the advance scouting process, free agency, and evaluated talent in all professional leagues including the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League. In addition, Kelly assists the college scouting staff with player evaluations and trades for the NFL draft.”
NFL
As of Thursday evening, the Bears have interviewed three GM candidates and one head coach candidate.