And Then There Were Nine

Last week brought reports that the Minnesota Vikings had requested interviews with six external candidates for their vacant general manager position.

The Six:

Terrance Gray - Buffalo Bills Assistant General Manager

Dave Ziegler - Tennessee Titans Assistant General Manager

RJ Gillen - San Francisco 49ers Assistant General Manager

Chad Alexander - Los Angeles Chargers Assistant General Manager

John McKay - Los Angeles Rams General Manager

Nolan Teasley - Seattle Seahawks Assistant General Manager

Interviews with the candidates reportedly started on Monday. It was great to see things starting to roll. Then came reports yesterday that the Vikings decided six external candidates wasn’t enough. NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported that the Vikings had requested interviews with three more external candidates.

Ray Agnew - Detroit Lions Assistant General Manager 

Reed Burkhardt - Denver Broncos Assistant General Manager

Kyle Smith - Miami Dolphins Assistant General Manager 

Honestly, I was a little surprised that Ray Agnew and Reed Burkhardt weren’t among the original six interview requests. There’s always a need to draw connections between in both general manager and coach searches. Both of the new candidates had significant connections with the Vikings. Agnew was with the Los Angeles Rams when Kevin O’Connell was the Rams offensive coordinator. Burkhardt spent 13 years rising through the scouting ranks with the Vikings. When George Paton left the Vikings to become the Denver Broncos general manager, he took Burkhardt with him. 

The Vikings are definitely looking for a type as all nine of the external candidates are currently assistant general mangers and all nine have risen through the scouting ranks. There’s not an analytics-centric individual among them. 

Now there are nine external candidates to fill the Vikings general manager vacancy. Long-time salary cap wizard and current interim general manager Rob Brzezinski is the lone internal candidate. Unless the Vikings decision-makers suddenly decide that nine external candidates isn’t enough, there are now 10 total contenders for the job. 

For what it’s worth, Chad Alexander has been my favorite for the job from the start. With the new additions to the process, if I were to pick a top three, it might look like this.

Chad Alexander

Terrance Gray

Reed Burkhardt

While I definitely don’t want the Vikings to rush through the process. It’s too important. I can’t wait for the conclusion. A GM search in May isn’t fun. I just want to move on to actual football stuff. That’s fun.