The Vikings have started the search process for their next General Manager and the first outside candidate for the job has been identified.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that they have requested an interview with Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray. The Vikings fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in January and executive V.P. of football operations Rob Brzezinski assumed the duties with a plan in place to conduct a full search after the draft.
Gray has been with the Bills since 2017, but he spent the previous 11 years as a scout for the Vikings so there he has familiarity with the organization ahead of any interview. He has also worked for the Chiefs during his time in the NFL.
Brzezinski could also be a candidate to take the job on a permanent basis and more candidates will likely surface in the coming days.
Vikings Clips
During the second night of the 2026 NFL draft, the Vikings traded defensive end Jonathan Greenard to the Eagles. The Eagles, in turn, agreed to (reportedly) a four-year, $100 million deal with Greenard.
We’ve gotten a look at the full details of the new deal. Here they are, per a source with knowledge of the terms:
1. Signing bonus: $23.275 million.
2. 2026 base salary: $1.215 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 per-game roster bonus: $510,000 total, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
4. 2027 option bonus: $22.905 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2027 workout bonus: $240,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
6. 2027 base salary: $1.345 million, fully guaranteed.
7. 2027 per-game roster bonus: $510,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
8. 2028 option bonus: $21.86 million.
9. 2028 workout bonus: $240,000.
10. 2028 base salary: $1.39 million.
11. 2028 per-game roster bonus: $510,000.
12. 2029 option bonus: $21.815 million.
13. 2029 workout bonus: $240,000.
14. 2029 base salary: $1.435 million.
15. 2029 per-game roster bonus: $510,000.
The deal also includes a 2027 escalator in the amount of $500,000, based on being a first-team All-Pro in 2026, a 2028 escalator in the amount of $500,000, based on being a first-team All-Pro in 2027, and a 2029 escalator in the amount of $500,000, based on being a first-team All-Pro in 2028.
The four-year deal replaces the two years that were remaining on his prior deal, at $38 million. Given the base value of the new deal ($98 million), the two-year extension has a new-money average of $29.5 million.
The deal includes $50 million fully guaranteed at signing, with team-held options for 2028 and 2029.
This means, as a practical matter, that the Vikings likely could have kept Greenard under contract for the next two years by increasing his pay from $38 million to $50 million, and by guaranteeing all of it in full at signing. The extra two years, at $48 million, could have been added at no immediate cost to the Vikings, allowing them to move on after 2027, if they decided to do so.
That fact will prompt some to wonder why the Vikings didn’t just increase his pay to $50 million over the next two years, from $38 million. Given that the market for pass rushers has increased to $50 million per year, it’s not an unreasonable question to ask.
As free-agent receiver Stefon Diggs waits for his next opportunity, he has an important piece of legal business to attend to.
His trial on felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault charges began on Monday.
As of this posting, the jury has been selected. Opening statements will happen next.
A live stream of the proceedings can be watched here, courtesy of the folks at NBC 10 in Boston.
The trial is expected to last a couple of days. The prosecution’s case largely hinges on the testimony of the alleged victim, who claims that Diggs assaulted and strangled her during an argument over an unpaid bill for her personal chef services.
The Patriots released Diggs in March, at the start of the new league year. He remains unsigned, with no team being linked to him yet.
Some teams could be waiting to see how the trial goes, since a conviction would undoubtedly result in a suspension under the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
Diggs, 32, has played for the Vikings, Bills, Texans, and Patriots. He had his seventh 1,000-yard season in 2025, despite having his 2024 season shortened by a torn ACL.
A dramatic belt-tightening by the Vikings from 2025 to 2026, with player spending plummeting from $350 million to $226 million, has sparked speculation that the team could be for sale. The topic made it to the pages of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, in a column from Charley Walters.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, team owners Mark and Zygi Wilf are not selling the team.
The column from Walters didn’t make a compelling case, frankly, that a sale could be in the offing. The simpler explanation is that the Vikings went all in last year from a cash standpoint, and that they now need to pull back from a cap standpoint.
The Wilfs purchased the team in 2005 from the late Red McCombs for $600 million. A sale would easily generate at least 10 times that amount.
Even if the Wilfs or any other current owner were contemplating cashing out, the league would likely encourage them to wait until after the Seahawks are sold. Rarely, if ever, are two teams for sale simultaneously. It’s better for the NFL to have only one team available at a time — and to not minimize the availability of the franchises. That preserves the rarity of the assets, pushing the number higher and higher.
Anyone with the money can buy a superyacht. There are only 32 NFL teams. It’s an exclusive club. And the Wilfs currently aren’t looking to leave it.
Last year, the Vikings wrote big checks in an effort to parlay a 14-3 season from 2024 into a Super Bowl appearance. This year, the team seems to be tightening the belt.
While part of the purple people purge was sparked by the cap consequences of last year’s spending spree, the most recent move — the decision to trade defensive end Jonathan Greenard in lieu of giving him a contract with a new-money average of $25 million — seemed strange. With the top of the new-money market now at $50 million annually, the Vikings couldn’t find a way to give Greenard half of that?
The situation is prompting speculation that a sale of the team could be coming. And it elevated from scattered chatter to a column from Charley Walters in the St. Paul Pioneer Press with a fairly blunt headline: “Are the Wilfs getting ready to sell the Vikings?”
The most obvious evidence to support that conclusion comes from the $124 million drop in cash spending from one year to the next, with a league-high $350 million in 2025 becoming $226 million in 2027, second lowest in the NFL.
The new Walters column picks through a variety of decisions the Vikings have made this offseason, but it includes no reporting to suggest that Zygi and Mark Wilf, who bought the team in 2005, are thinking about cashing out.
While the ever-inflating values of NFL franchises could tempt more than a few current owners to take $10 billion or more and run, there’s not enough there to justify a conclusion that this is anything other than a cap correction after the Vikings overplayed their hand in 2025, due primarily to the very bad decision(s) made about the most important position on the team.
Minnesota’s 2025 miscues cost G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job. Waiting to search for his replacement until May surely wasn’t about saving four months of General Manager salary. It made sense to stay the course through free agency and the draft, especially if coach Kevin O’Connell emerged from 2025 with more juice in the organization.
If, as we believe, O’Connell was sounding the alarm about not having a veteran quarterback who could step in and play if J.J. McCarthy didn’t instantly fulfill his potential, KOC was proven right. Throw in the fact that he managed to get the team to turn the page immediately on a 26-0 embarrassment in Seattle with a 31-0 win over Washington and four more in a row after that to end the season (including a Christmas Day carving of the Lions’ playoff chances), O’Connell may have more sway than ever.
While no one will objectively conclude that the Minnesota roster screams out “Super Bowl contender” for 2026, the spending decisions don’t immediately point to a potential sale of the team. Still, perception is reality. With the hypothesis morphing into the beginnings of a theory, it could be time for the Wilfs to make the case publicly that they aren’t getting ready to pound a “For Sale” sign in the front yard.
Next year’s draft will happen in D.C. The location of the draft after that has yet to be determined.
Signs are pointing to the Twin Cities.
Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal reports that Minnesota is the “clear favorite” to host the 2028 draft.
Minnesota submitted a bid in March. The three-day process would center on U.S. Bank Stadium. Other events would happen in St. Paul, at the Mall of America, and in the Viking Lakes development around the team’s headquarters in Eagan.
The league’s events committee is due to meet next week regarding the 2028 draft. An ownership vote is expected at the next ownership meeting, on May 19 and 20 in Orlando.
The draft became a road show in 2015. As it continues to draw more and more people (regardless of any embellishment of the official numbers), it will become more and more attractive to numerous cities.
Since the draft left New York City, it has been hosted by Chicago (twice), Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Detroit, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh.
The Vikings signed defensive lineman Eric Johnson on Wednesday, the team announced.
Johnson, 27, spent last season with the Colts. He played 12 games, seeing action on 131 defensive snaps and 16 on special teams, and totaled six tackles.
He entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Colts in 2022.
Johnson spent his first two seasons in Indianapolis before the Patriots claimed him off waivers out of the preseason in 2024. He played 11 games for New England.
Johnson rejoined the Colts in May 2025 when they claimed him off waivers from the Patriots.
He has appeared in 51 games, recording 41 tackles, including two for loss, with one sack, three quarterback hits and one fumble recovery.
After the Vikings made the belated decision to fire G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah beyond the normal post-season pink-slip window, the Vikings did not embark on a search to hire a new General Manager.
They are now.
Owners Mark and Zygi Wilf have announced that the process has begun.
“With the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft, our search for the next general manager of the Minnesota Vikings is underway,” the Wilfs said in a statement. “This will be a thorough and deliberate process led by ownership, with support from a small internal advisory committee of senior leaders. We have also engaged respected firm TurnkeyZRG to assist in conducting a wide-ranging search that includes experienced football executives, emerging candidates, and individuals with diverse professional backgrounds.
“Our focus is to identify a decisive leader with a clear vision for team building, strong communication skills, and the ability to build alignment across an organization. Out of respect for all involved, we do not intend to publicly announce candidates and will provide further comment when the search is complete.”
Even if they won’t be publicly announcing candidates, any requests made for permission to speak to employees currently working for other teams inevitably will be leaked to the media.
Without a G.M., Vikings executive V.P. of football operations Rob Brzezinski led the draft and free agency process. He could potentially be a candidate to assume the G.M. role.
The overriding question is whether coach Kevin O’Connell will emerge from the process with greater influence over the roster. That will make the specific terms of the G.M. job critical — and it will potentially impact Minnesota’s ability to interview and hire candidates under contract with other teams.
Either way, the search has begun for a new General Manager in Minnesota. At a minimum, they’ll need someone who will work well with O’Connell and the coaching staff.
Alignment is the key. With it, a team has a chance. Without it, a team has no shot.
Receiver Jauan Jennings may be getting closer to finding a new team.
Jennings is visiting with the Vikings on Tuesday night and Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Jennings, 28, had spent his entire career with the 49ers, with the club having selected him in the seventh round of the 2020 draft. Jennings played 75 games with 32 starts for San Francisco, including 55 receptions for 643 yards with nine touchdowns in 2025.
The Vikings did not select a receiver in this year’s draft over the weekend, which puts them in the market for more depth at the position.
Free agent running back Sincere McCormick has agreed to terms with the 49ers, his representation announced on social media.
The 49ers will have to make a roster move to open a spot for McCormick.
McCormick, 25, joins Jordan James, Kaelon Black and Isaac Guerendo on the depth chart behind Christian McCaffrey.
McCormick joined the 49ers’ practice squad after the Raiders waived him out of the preseason. The team cut him Nov. 18, and he was on the practice squads of the Cardinals, Broncos and Vikings to end the season.
He did not play a down in 2025.
McCormick’s only playing time came with the Raiders in 2024 when he played five games with two starts. He has totaled 45 touches for 212 yards.
