Rick Spielman Takes on New Role
Currently, Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is preparing for the offseason. He has to reshape the roster for the upcoming season and years beyond in free agency and the draft. While he only has four picks to find reinforcements, he has about $55 million to hire new players in free agency.
Rick Spielman Takes on New Role
Although he has added some talented players in the last three years, the roster still has some of the staples his predecessor, Rick Spielman, brought to town, including Christian Darrisaw and Justin Jefferson.
Spielman, however, was fired following the 2021 season. The Vikings missed the playoffs for the second straight year, and it was time to make some changes. Both GM Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer were let go after years of employment.
Zimmer took a couple of years off and then became the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. He was not retained for another season. Spielman, meanwhile, contributed to various media outlets and had advisory roles with the Commanders and the Jets, primarily helping them find new head coaches.
On Thursday, The 33rd Team‘s Ari Meirov tweeted, “The Jets are hiring former Vikings GM Rick Spielman as a senior advisor in their front office. Spielman was part of the The 33rd Team search committee that helped find HC Aaron Glenn and GM Darren Mougey — and now he’s joining the organization as well.”
Spielman conducted interviews on who the Jets should hire as general manager and head coach. Ultimately, he helped the club find ex-Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as the right man for the coaching job after interviewing countless candidates, including Brian Flores and Josh McCown from the Vikings.
The executive had a short-lived playing career and started his front-office work as a scout with the Lions in 1990. Seven years later, the Bears hired him as their director of pro personnel. Between 2000 and 2004, he spent time with the Dolphins and was the general manager for one season.
The Vikings hired him in 2006 as vice president of player personnel. He was officially named general manager in 2012.
Last offseason, Spielman helped the Commanders find new leadership, similar to this year with the Jets. They hired GM Adam Peters and HC Dan Quinn, who immediately made the trip to the NFC Championship Game.
The Athletic’s Jets reporter Zack Rosenblatt posted about his new gig, “Rick Spielman is joining the Jets front office as a senior football adviser. He told CBS Sports that he’s going to be ‘helping any way I can with Aaron Glenn and the general manager’ and that his ‘biggest project is trying to rebuild the football operations side of things. There’s a lot of changes going on there.'”
The Jets needed a complete overhaul because the head coach and the general manager were let go during the disappointing 2024 season. It has been an organization as dysfunctional as it gets, with seemingly a new head coach every other year and a QB carousel because they fail to develop their drafted passers.
Sam Darnold and Geno Smith excelled elsewhere, and Zach Wilson might be next in line. The franchise’s last playoff participation came in 2010.
Spielman is 62 years old, and his first major decision will be the future of Aaron Rodgers. Bringing peace and continuity to the Jets is a colossal task.
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Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt