One of the persistent issues people have screamed about with the Chicago Bears is how behind the times they always seem to be. While other organizations are modernizing, they’re stuck in their old ways. One of the biggest trends of the most recent era of football is analytics. Using math to help improve your odds at finding the right talent for your roster. Right now the Bears have only one analytics person in their employ.
Perhaps that is about to change. According to multiple outlets, the team has requested interviews with Cleveland Browns execs Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (VP of Football Ops) and Glenn Cook (VP of Player Personnel). Adofo-Mensah is a hybrid that excels both in personnel and analytics. A Princeton graduate, he’s been rising fast in NFL circles as somebody that will likely be a GM in the near future. Cook is said to be the right-hand man of GM Andrew Berry. One interesting subplot with him is he worked extensively as a scout for the Green Bay Packers prior to joining Cleveland.
So he’s had experience with the rival organization up north.
The Bears have requested interviews with Browns VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and VP of player personnel Glenn Cook for their vacant GM job, per source.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 11, 2022
Two strong candidates in Cleveland. Very glad to see Chicago taking a look at guys in a top building, even if their season fell a bit short https://t.co/uQ53JQwkbS
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@PFF_Brad) January 11, 2022
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From @gmfb Weekend on #Browns exec Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as a sleeper GM candidate this year. The Princeton grad has spent a lot of time with scouts, both in Cleveland and with the #49ers. He's a well-rounded candidate and could sneak into a few searches. pic.twitter.com/0G6NCMVNfF
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 2, 2021
Adofo-Mensah is probably the more unconventional of the two options.
He was a football research specialist in San Francisco. He started rising up the ranks there when John Lynch took over as GM and played a key role in that team securing some serious talents including George Kittle, Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and Deebo Samuel. Together with Cook, they’ve done some strong work the past two offseasons with additions like Jedrick Willis, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Jack Conklin and Wyatt Teller.
One other thing to note is how incredibly diverse the Chicago Bears have been thus far in their approach. All three GM candidates that have surfaced thus far are African-American. It is becoming apparent that George McCaskey is committed to exploring the best possible candidates regardless of background or skin color. Exactly the way it should be done.
Another fun little nugget? Adofo-Mensah worked with the 49ers for two years when Jim Harbaugh was the head coach. So that might be a connection to keep in mind.
