A Look into the Vikings Football-Related Org Chart

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Now that the Minnesota Vikings have officially hired Nolan Teasley to be the new general manager, this is a good time to review the Vikings’ organizational structure, at least as it relates to football-related decisions (and leaving the non-football parts out).

The basic leadership structure hasn’t really changed much since Rick Spielman was named general manager back in 2012, although the office occupants have changed over the years. But even then, roughly half of the football operations and scouting staff date from the Spielman era- or earlier in a few cases.

Nevertheless, there are aspects of the power structure that evolve over time and the power/influence of an office may wax or wane depending on the occupant and how well respected they are within the organization.

So, with that brief introduction, let’s take a deeper look into the Vikings football-related power structure.

Ownership​

The Wilf family has owned the Vikings since 2005 and eleven of the thirteen listed owners are members of the Wilf family. The Wilfs live in New Jersey but come to Minnesota for key events and games and as necessary. But they count on the leadership group to report to them, have them sign off on things as necessary, and keep them abreast of developments.

Zygi Wilf, Chairman​

Zygi Wilf has been the head of the ownership group since the Wilfs bought the team. He remains present for games and key events but at age 76, he seems less active in football operations. The Wilfs were never micromanagers of football operations, and have largely maintained a hands-off approach- mostly weighing in only on more key/strategic decisions.

Zygi has said that he expects the Vikings to compete at the highest level now and over the longer-term as well. Under his leadership, the Vikings have arguably the best stadium in the league (at least the best when it was built) and the best training facilities in the league as well. The Vikings also score in the top 2-3 teams in the league on the NFLPA scorecard, which grades all the various football operation functions and staff. All that will be Zygi’s chief legacy as something he had direct control and leadership over.

The Wilfs have never been afraid to spend money, whether on the roster, coaching staff, or upgrading facilities. They also have been persistent in pushing to host league events, from the Super Bowl to owner’s meetings to most recently being awarded the 2028 NFL Draft.

My guess is that if Zygi has a strong view on something football-related that view still commands the full weight of the chairman’s office. But I’m not sure that happens much. The Wilfs value a collaborative approach, both within the ownership group and in the organization as a whole, and I’m not sure there is much disagreement within the ownership group on key decisions. If there has been, they’ve kept it in-house.

That said, I suspect Zygi relies more now on Mark Wilf, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the team, when it comes to key football-related decisions. There have been some indications lately that Zygi is involving the younger generation Wilf family owners more in operations- like sitting in on interviews with general manager candidates- which may be a prelude to Zygi retiring or having a reduced role in the active management of the team at some point going forward.

Leonard Wilf, Vice-Chairman​

Leonard Wilf is the cousin of Zygi and Mark. As vice-chairman he has a position above most of the other owners, but as far as I know has never taken much of an active role in football decision-making. He is nearly 80 now and I don’t believe he travels to all the games and key events. He seems more of a passive owner as far as football decision-making goes and probably takes his cues from Mark and Zygi. He is active in philanthropy including as a member of the board of the NFL Foundation. He also serves on the NFL Legislative Committee per the Vikings’ website.

Mark Wilf, President​

Mark Wilf, younger brother of Zygi, is the voice of ownership on most occasions (Zygi is usually on the podium for key events and occasionally gives brief comments), particularly in press conferences and appears to be the most active owner in the day-to-day operations of the team, including football operations. He also attends the owner’s meetings on behalf of the Vikings. All signs and appearances point to his being the point person for ownership regarding football-related decisions. Undoubtedly he communicates with Zygi and other family members on football operational decisions above some level, and I expect other members of the Wilf family attend key meetings or are briefed on them, but at this point Mark Wilf seems to have the most influence within the ownership group and is the most involved with football operation decision-making.

Other Owners​

There are eleven other current owners of the Vikings, but most of them appear to be passive owners. Zygi’s son Jonathan is EVP of Strategic Planning and Business Initiatives, which involves managing the team’s facilities- US Bank stadium and TCO Performance Center. Steven Wilf, son of Mark, is also an EVP of Innovation and Strategy, which involves real estate, sports and entertainment projects for the Vikings. Other owners don’t have a particular title and include several other Wilf family members along with Ownership Partners Steve Landis and David Mandelbaum.

So, from the outside looking in, Mark appears to lead the ownership group when it comes to football-related decisions, with Zygi second-most important (although he holds the top title), followed by Leonard and the rest of the ownership group which doesn’t appear to be as involved on the football-side of the organization. Although that may be changing as the elder Wilfs involve their children more.

Executive Leadership​

Below the ownership is the executive leadership group which is headed by Andrew Miller and consists of nine executive vice presidents (not including the two who are also owners). Rob Brzezinski is EVP of Football Operations and is the only EVP that manages anything football-related. The others manage various business functions common to any larger business.

Andrew Miller, Chief Operating Officer​

Andrew Miller isn’t a football guy and doesn’t have a football background. He has MBA and JD degrees and is a business guy. He plays a role in football operations as a member of the interview committee when the Vikings search for other key leaders like general managers and head coaches. Miller also interacts with the EVP of Football Operations and the General Manager on business aspects of those two jobs, particularly salary-related issues but also logistics and other more business-related issues. Miller’s position is above the other football-related leaders as COO, but as a practical matter he isn’t a key voice in most football-related decisions and both general manager Nolan Teasley and head coach Kevin O’Connell report directly to ownership rather than Miller.

Nolan Teasley, General Manager​

As general manager, Teasley is the head of player personnel and football operations. He reports directly to ownership. He has the last word on roster decisions, but per ownership directives, is expected to collaborate and build consensus among the key players – head coach Kevin O’Connell and the coaching staff, the scouting staff he manages, and Rob Brzezinski who manages the salary cap and contract negotiations. He has the last word on roster decisions but given the Wilfs mandate for collaboration and consensus building, to the extent he is making decisions without consensus, that is likely to be looked upon negatively by ownership and would likely draw greater scrutiny.

General manager is a position normally above that of head coach, but as a practical matter with the Vikings under the Wilfs ownership, the general manager has not made hiring/firing decisions regarding the head coach. The Wilfs have always made those decisions and that seems unlikely to change. The general manager is also involved in other coaching hiring/firing decisions at coordinator and position-coach level, but the head coach is normally given the most latitude to make those decisions.

Teasley is likely to have the most latitude on making decisions within the scouting operations area, which he oversees directly. It was reported by Alec Lewis with The Athletic that Teasley, along with Kevin O’Connell and Rob Brzezinski, would be reviewing expiring contracts within scouting operations and making decisions on whether to renew those contracts or not. I suspect that O’Connell and Brzezinski may offer some input on people Teasley may not be as familiar with, and Teasley would likely have some people from Seattle he’d like to hire. Presumably those would need to be promotions, or Seattle could block those moves from happening.

Teasley will also run the draft and be the point person on trades during the draft. He’s also responsible for free agency, exploring potential trades, and monitoring practice squads for potential contributors, which is a year-round process.

Lastly, in conjunction with the coaching staff and Rob Brzezinski, Teasley is responsible for assessing the existing roster. One of the first things on the priority list in that regard is the plan for Brian O’Neill. O’Neill is on the last year of his contract with no guaranteed money remaining and is present but not participating in OTAs due to his contract status according to Ben Goessling with the Star Tribune.

And at some point over the next year Teasley will need to weigh-in on the quarterback situation as well, although O’Connell’s voice will be the most important.

But perhaps the biggest item on Teasley’s to-do list will be implementing a process to continually improve the Vikings’ roster that integrates the coaching staff, which is largely responsible for defining the type of players they are looking for to upgrade the roster and developing them; the scouting staff who is responsible for finding the players outlined by the coaching staff, whether pro or college players; and Rob Brzezinski as manager of the salary cap. His ability to do that in Seattle and collaborate with the various departments may have been his chief selling point to the Vikings’ ownership, along with the results that process brought in improving Seattle’s roster. Traditional scouting, advanced analytics, and some aggressive trading were all a part of that in Seattle in recent years.

Kevin O’Connell, Head Coach​

As head coach, O’Connell is the primary voice on coaching hires and fires and player evaluations and development plans. He also reports directly to ownership. Teasley of course will also be involved, providing his perspective on evaluations and the current marketplace situation for a position, both free agency and upcoming drafts. Teasley will also head up evaluations of players not on the roster who may be of interest with the scouting staff. Rob Brzezinski will also provide the salary cap management perspective and trade-offs for consideration as well.

But the role of head coach with O’Connell in that seat appears to have expanded in terms of influence. O’Connell is the face of Vikings’ football operations and that is unlikely to change with the hiring of Nolan Teasley. Teasley talked about helping to implement O’Connell’s vision for the team in his opening press conference. The Wilfs have involved O’Connell more in the football operations decision-making process and have sought his input on the hiring of a new general manager, scouting and managing the draft and free agency, and most recently on other personnel decisions within the scouting department. His voice may not be the decisive one in every instance, but clearly the Wilfs value his perspective and welcome his involvement and buy-in regarding football operations that may not be the traditional or primary responsibility of the head coach.

Rob Brzezinski, EVP of Football Operations​

Brzezinski was interim GM and a candidate for the full-time position but was not selected. That appears to be less because Brzezinski lost the job and more because Teasley won the job. The Wilfs have had nothing but praise for Brzezinski, who returns to his long-time position as salary cap specialist and contract negotiator, among other more business-related activities. He reports to Nolan Teasley.

Brzezinski’s influence will be primarily around managing the salary cap effectively for short- and long-term success and also contract negotiations. He did a lot in a short period of time as interim GM to put the Vikings in a better situation going forward with the salary cap. His view on salary cap management will influence roster decision-making, at times being a voice of restraint. But his ability and experience in structuring contracts in negotiations and familiarity with all the salary cap rules and tools will also be an enabling factor too. He will also provide an important perspective on trade-offs forced by the salary cap that will be helpful for both Nolan Teasley and Kevin O’Connell as part of roster building and fulfilling the Wilf’s mandate to compete at a high level both now and in the future.

Brian Flores, Defensive Coordinator​

As a coordinator, Flores is a step below O’Connell and Teasley and Brzezinski when it comes to roster decisions, but Flores’ influence is beyond that of an average coordinator and may be growing.

First, Kevin O’Connell largely defers to Flores when it comes to the defensive roster. That gives Flores’ voice on the defensive roster more influence because it flows through and is amplified through O’Connell.

Secondly, the Vikings value Flores enough to extend him and make him the most highly paid coordinator in league history at more than $6 million/year. For reference, that’s at least 3x the average general manager salary and 4x the average coordinator salary. It’s also the low-end of the range for head coaches. Flores also has a scouting background going back to his early years with the Patriots and enjoys scouting players. His fingerprints were all over the defensive draft picks the Vikings signed this year. Flores also expressed dissatisfaction with the direction of the Vikings’ front office under Adofo-Mensah as the Vikings were looking to extend him in January. That may have caused a somewhat belated reassessment of Adofo-Mensah by the Wilfs that ultimately led to his firing.

So, it wouldn’t be surprising if Flores is a key part of the collaboration with the Teasley, O’Connell, and Brzezinski, at least as it relates to the defensive roster.

Scouting Staff​

New general manager Nolan Teasley will take charge of the scouting staff, and reportedly he and O’Connell and Brzezinski will review those with contracts expiring in the coming days, and perhaps others too. The current scouting staff is roughly half Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hires and half that date from the Rick Spielman era- and a few earlier than that. Here is a brief rundown on the scouting staff, some on whom are likely to be replaced.

It’s noteworthy how many people in the Vikings scouting staff have come from Cleveland: Ryan Grigson, Chisom Opara, Sam DeLuca, Pat Roberts. Demitrius Washington also worked in Cleveland although he worked with the 49ers after that.

Assistant General Managers Ryan Grigson and Demitrius Washington​

Both Grigson and Washington were Adofo-Mensah hires and were promoted to their current positions last summer. Grigson has a traditional scouting background and was the GM of the Colts from 2012-2016. Washington has more of an analytics background and worked with Adofo-Mensah in the Research department with the 49ers prior to coming to Minnesota.

I would imagine Nolan Teasley will get to decide who his assistant general manager(s) will be. It wouldn’t be terribly surprising if Washington and/or Grigson were replaced by people Teasley worked with in Seattle. Staff changes may not happen in the immediate future, depending on when contracts expire, but Teasley may well opt to release some staff as well to make room for guys he is able to take with him from Seattle. Others he may be comfortable working with and opt to keep in place or perhaps even extend their contract.

Ryan Monnens, Director of Player Personnel​

As director of player personnel, Monnens oversees both the college and pro scouting operations. He’s been with the Vikings for over 25 years and has been in his current role for five years.

Chisom Opara, Asst. Director of Player Personnel​

Opara is entering his ninth season with the Vikings, first as a scout and then in his current position, which he’s held for five years. He was previously Director of Player Personnel with the Browns.

Sam DeLuca, Director of Pro Personnel​

DeLuca is an Adofo-Mensah hire who came from Cleveland. This will be his third season in his current role. He was hired originally as senior assistant director of pro personnel after spending ten years with the Browns.

Mike Sholitan, Director of College Scouting​

Sholitan has been with the Vikings for over 20 years and has been in his current role for five years.

Jamaal Stephenson, Senior Personnel Executive​

Stephenson has been with the Vikings for 25 years and in his current role for the past five. He was previously co-director of player personnel.

Pat Roberts, Senior College Executive​

Roberts is entering his second season in this role after spending three seasons as assistant director of college scouting and eight as a national scout. He came to the Vikings from Cleveland.

Sean Gustus & David Williams, National Scouts​

Gustus is entering his tenth season with the Vikings and has over 20 years of experience in scouting. Williams is entering his sixth season and has over 15 years of experience in scouting.

College Area Scouts​

Jake Essler is the Midwest college area scout and has held that role since last year. He was previously the northeast college area scout and before that was the BLESTO scout, which is sort-of a pooled scouting group that a dozen or so teams participate in and have a dedicated scout to do some preliminary evaluations of college prospects and help reduce the workload for each team’s scouting departments. He has ten years of scouting experience, all with the Vikings.

Blaine Gramer is the Southwest college area scout, his sixth season in that role. He’s been the northeast area scout and the BLESTO scout before that. He was also an intern for the Vikings. He has ten years of scouting experience, all with the Vikings.

Matt Kelly covers the West Coast college area, which he’s done for the last four seasons. He was previously director of football operations for the Senior Bowl.

Steve Sabo has been the Southeast college area scout for the past four seasons. He was a pro scout with the Jaguars before that and before that spent 12 seasons with the Falcons as a college area scout, six years as the director of college scouting, director of player personnel and director of pro personnel. Before that he spent 12 seasons with the Browns, mostly serving in director roles on the pro personnel side.

Michelle Mankoff is the Northeast college area scout and was promoted to that position last year. She was promoted to that position after spending a year as a scouting associate and college/pro scouting analyst. She was previously a scouting intern with the Bills.

Jack Murphy has been the BLESTO scout for the past four seasons.

There are a couple associate-level scouts as well.

Pro Scouts​

Salli Clavelle is in her fourth season as a pro scout for the Vikings. She was an Adofo-Mensah hire who came from the 49ers, where she worked for five seasons in both pro and college scouting.

Alex Dale is in his sixth season with the Vikings, the past four as a pro scout. He was also a scouting associate over the 2021-22 seasons.

Football Analytics Staff​

For an analytics general manager in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the Vikings analytics staff is rather modest.

Chris French and Cole Bransford are football quantitative methods senior analyst and analyst, respectively. French “leverages a multitude of data sources and build analytical tools to assess players” and “is also responsible for evaluating the Vikings situational tendencies and performance to help coaches assess the strengths and weaknesses of their team and the opponents” according to the Vikings website. He has been with the Vikings for nine seasons and this is his third in this position.

Bransford is in his fourth season in his current role, which “uses data and analytic tools to build draft models to help predict player success when analyzing collegiate and free agent prospects” according to the Vikings website.

There are a few others on the analytics staff, including Luke Burson who is listed as Senior Director of Football Information Systems; Anthony Caron and Derek McCormick are listed as Football Information Systems Developers. There are a few other tech people and associate-level people as well.

Player Health and Performance Staff​

This includes all the training and strength and conditioning staff and is headed up by Tyler Williams as VP of Player Health and Performance. Matt Duhamel is Director of Sports Medicine.

I won’t detail all the rest of the staff here, but Tyler Williams is recognized as one of the best and more innovative in the league. The Vikings have leveraged this area significantly in player development, as has Seattle, and I expect Nolan Teasley will continue to build on that.

Bottom Line​

Perhaps the best way to look at the Vikings football-related decision-making structure is that Nolan Teasley as general manager is there to help implement head coach Kevin O’Connell’s vision for the team. Teasley himself used this phrase to describe his role. Both Teasley and O’Connell report directly to ownership. And while Teasley as general manager has the final say on the roster, which is common throughout the league to help balance short- and long-term considerations including salary cap, Teasley is expected to collaborate and build consensus with O’Connell, Brzezinski, and the coaching and scouting staffs.

Teasley has worked with and helped develop a roster-building process in Seattle and his chief task now will be to implement such a process in Minnesota. That will help drive decision making from current roster evaluation, development, and needs with the coaching and training staffs, to identifying acquisition targets with the scouting and analytics staffs, to managing draft capital and the salary cap.

Teasley’s first step will be to evaluate the current scouting and analytics staffs, making changes as he deems necessary to better implement his process. It may also include changes in duties for some positions.

Current roster evaluation and preparation for roster cut-downs at the end of August along with preparing for the coming college scouting season are also near the top of the list.

Stay tuned.

Follow me on X/Bluesky @wludford

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