STEELE SPORTS

The Minnesota Vikings made it official last week: Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is the team's new general manager.
Adofo-Mensah replaces former general manager Rick Spielman and brings a new look to the Vikings' front office.
After doing my due diligence on Adofo-Mensah – whom I hadn't heard of before the signing – I am a big fan of owner Zygi Wilf's decision to hire him.
The 40-year-old Adofo-Mensah is not your typical general manager at first glance.
A dive into his background unearths a resume that one would be more likely to find on Wall Street instead of the gridiron because that's exactly where his career trajectory began: Wall Street.
According to a press release by the Vikings organization, Adofo-Mensah earned two degrees in economics with a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a master's degree from Stanford University.
After graduating, Adofo-Mensah pursued a career in finance on Wall Street as a portfolio manager and commodities trader before coming into contact with the San Francisco 49ers in 2013.
What caught the eye of his employers before he joined the Vikings was Adofo-Mensah's ability to analyze data and make decisions based on analytics.
A big portion of decision-making comes down to finite analytics that tries to optimize game strategy in today's game.
Adofo-Mensah's career is built on a track record of making strong, calculated decisions based on these data points.
Adofo-Mensah has even won over the confidence of one of Steele County's own young coaches, Cam Rutledge.
"From what I've heard of him so far, he's an analytics-driven GM and I think that's exactly what the Vikings need. Somebody young, somebody who has that way of thinking. Now I hope they go out and get a head coach that thinks the same way as the GM does. Someone who is forward-thinking and uses it as an advantage to win us more games," said Rutledge, Blooming Prairie's head basketball coach.
As the game progresses, analytics-driven decisions are replacing football knowledge and intuition, and what better time to pivot from a tired, obsolete regime to a younger, more cunning one than now?
One key component of Adofo-Mensah's resume in football has also been his ability to monitor cap space and make beneficial financial decisions.
This will prove critical to his tenure in Minnesota as he inherits a team that is north of $14 million over the cap limit in 2022.
After years of mediocracy, it is hard to blame Wilf for wanting to mix it up and try something new rather than promoting from within and attempting to make do with what he already has.
Vikings fans should rejoice in the optimism that change is on the horizon.