On May 30, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported, citing sources, that the Minnesota Vikings are hiring Nolan Teasley as their general manager. Teasley comes from the Seattle Seahawks and brings experience from a front office that built a Super Bowl champion.
Since the firing of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in January, Rob Brzezinski, the team’s executive vice president of football operations, has served as the team’s general manager on an interim basis.
Brzezinski navigated the free agency period and the 2026 NFL Draft while also making a major trade that sent Jonathan Greenard to the Philadelphia Eagles. Teasley will now be taking over, and former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber shared his thoughts on the new hiring.
“My initial reaction is I’m excited,” Leber said in a May 31 video on his YouTube channel. “I’m slightly disappointed that Brzezinski didn’t get the job. We’ve laid it out over and over again about how much we love Rob. Everybody loves Rob, and I want to see him get his chance.
“We don’t know yet, but I thought he crushed the draft and did a really good job. I was really excited for his opportunity. But as you just kind of alluded to, we were talking several weeks ago when they narrowed this whole cast down to five candidates.
“We were excited for Nolan because he’s the outsider. He’s the guy who is through and through Seattle Seahawks. He has no connections to Minnesota and has never been within the organization.”
Nolan Teasley Was the Ideal External Candidate for Vikings
Moreover, Leber expressed that if Minnesota wasn’t going to go with Brzezinski, then Teasley was the outside candidate that the Vikings should go with as the new general manager jumps on a slightly moving train with OTAs ongoing and mandatory minicamp on the horizon.
“I thought, well, if we’re not going to go with Brzezinski, then let’s go with the outside voice,” Leber added. “Let’s go with the guy who’s fresh off a Super Bowl and has retooled his whole team.
“They have kind of a new outlook. They fixed their offensive line issues and went out and got Sam Darnold. I was kind of hoping it would be Brz, but I’m super excited for what Nolan can bring. And he’s got a lot of mojo now that he’s a Super Bowl champion.”
Nolan Teasley Has Compelling Trait That He Brings
Meanwhile, KFAN’s Cy Amundson shared why he loves the hiring of Teasley, citing one trait that emerged during the interview process.
“I saw a couple other people who had indicated, in talking to sources close to the situation, that he wasn’t a big politics guy,” Amundson said in that same video. “He doesn’t like the dance. He doesn’t like all the extra stuff that goes into trying to get a job and playing the game.
“And I love that. I don’t just love that as a personality trait for him. I love that it was valued and that, in the hiring process, it was seen as not just okay but as a positive. Because I think that’s something the organization desperately needs.
“It kind of reminds me of Ben Johnson. Everybody talked about him that way. He wanted the right opportunity. He didn’t want to play the politics. He just wanted to do the job. So I’m really intrigued by that attitude being a part of this organization.”
Ben Leber Makes Feelings Clear on Vikings Hiring Nolan Teasley