More Front Office Additions

New Minnesota Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley made a couple more additions to his front office. One addition is quite familiar as Ryan Pace is returning to the NFC North. He was the general manager of the Chicago Bears from 2015 to 2021. The reports have Pace joining the Vikings with the nebulous title of football adviser. We’ll have to see what that entails. The second addition is more intriguing as Teasley again reached into the Seattle Seahawks front office that he just left. Azzaam Kapadia was last listed with the Seahawks as a pro scout. He’d been with the team for three seasons so Teasley worked with him for three seasons. Kapadia’s football path stands out as remarkably brief, so far, and fascinating. Every person with a career in football has a story. For some, it just happens because the game was always there for them. For others, they have to bust their ass to force their way into an opportunity for a shot. If they get that shot, then they have to take advantage of it. Azzaam Kapadia is the latter. 

Purple Daily’s Thor Nystrom posted an intriguing timeline of Azzaam Kapadia’s path to the Vikings.

As a student at the University of Virginia, Azzaam Kapadia hounded the football office for a year to get a volunteer scout role. He persistence paid off as he earned a scouting role under head coach Bronco Mendenhall. He got the job by breaking down the high school film of receiver Dontayvion Wicks. When Mendenhall departed, Kapadia was the lone holdover. He earned a promotion when new head coach Tony Elliott discovered him watching film in an otherwise empty building. This was 2021, going into 2022. Kapadia was hired as a Seahawks scouting assistant after his graduation from Virginia in 2023. In just three years, he’s had a growing role in the Seattle draft and pro evaluation process. Kapadia is a film junky. He’s described as curious, and no-stone-left-unturned thorough. Just three years ago, he was making his way as a football slappy at the University of Virginia. Now, he’s assistant director of pro scouting for the Minnesota Vikings.

So, the Vikings are collecting former NFL GMs named Ryan. Former Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson had been an assistant general manager for the Vikings since 2022. Reports have him staying with a different title and perhaps different responsibilities. If you ask Colts fans, they won’t have a lot of great things to say about Grigson, If asked, almost universally they’d rather see him employed by the Vikings than the Colts. Ryan Pace has a similar reputation with fans of the Chicago Bears. It can be a good thing to have former GMs on staff with a suspect history of decisions. Grigson and Pace are in Minnesota to assist Nolan Teasley. They aren’t in Minnesota to run things. We won’t know for a few years but Teasley is putting together an intriguing combination of evaluation and experience in his front office.