The termination of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in January has led to an avalanche of front office changes in the Twin Cities. After going through the offseason with Rob Brzezinski at the helm, the club has since hired a new general manager.
New Vikings GM Nolan Teasley arrived last month and has overhauled the front office, hiring several new employees while parting ways with others.
This week, it was reported that assistant GM Ryan Grigson would no longer be part of Teasley’s circle. Instead, he will be joining the Cleveland Browns. Initially, he was expected to remain with the team in a different role.
The Athletic’s Devon Henderson and Michael Silver wrote Wednesday, “Ryan Grigson is leaving the Minnesota Vikings to become a senior football adviser to Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry, a league source confirmed to The Athletic on Wednesday.”
Grigson was the general manager of the Indianapolis Colts between 2012 and 2016. He’s linked to Andrew Luck’s early retirement, often cited as the man who failed to protect his young passer back in the day.
After the Colts showed him the door, Grigson was hired by the Browns. Before moving to Minnesota, he had already served in his new role in Cleveland as a senior football advisor. That was also when he crossed paths with Adofo-Mensah.
His first job with the Vikings was senior vice president of player personnel, a position he held for three years. Last year, the Vikes handed him the assistant GM gig, not knowing that the front office would undergo a severe shakeup just a few months later.
Adding a former general manager alongside an inexperienced first-time GM certainly made sense at the time, but the duo couldn’t deliver the desired results. Teasley went in a different direction, but it’s notable that Brezinski is still in the building and will continue to have a strong voice.
More from Henderson and Silver: “Grigson, an assistant general manager under since-departed Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah last season, was given an opportunity to remain with Minnesota in a different role. Instead, he opted to return to Cleveland, the source said on the condition of anonymity because they hadn’t been authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Grigson worked as senior football adviser for the Browns from 2020 to 2021 and senior personnel executive in 2017.”
As he didn’t have a set role with the Vikings, Grigson decided to return to Cleveland, rather than accepting the demotion in Minnesota.
The Vikings, meanwhile, have already filled the assistant GM spot with not only one but two people. Andrew Healy, ironically from the Cleveland Browns, and Trent Kirchner from the Seattle Seahawks, will be strong voices in Teasley’s ear.
Teasley and his crew have to navigate the quarterback question over the next nine months, which will once again include a decision on J.J. McCarthy and a veteran quarterback, in Kyler Murray. In the upcoming weeks and months, they could also hand out some contract extensions. Veterans Brian O’Neill, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Blake Cashman aren’t getting any younger, but they still played at a high level in 2025. All three are set to become free agents next March.
The Vikings have turned the page from the Adofo-Mensah era, and Grigson’s departure is another sign of that reality. Teasley now has his own people in place and his own vision for the franchise.
The hard part begins now. Over the next year, the new leadership group will be judged by the same thing every front office is judged by: finding the right quarterback and building a roster capable of competing for a Super Bowl.
