The Minnesota Vikings finished their first round of interviews for their vacant general manager and head coach positions over the weekend. Per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin, the team met with Tennessee Titans’ director of personnel Monti Ossenfort and Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
Both candidates are on teams that are still in the playoffs.
The Vikings are expected to meet with the Cleveland Browns’ vice president of football operations, Kwesi Odofo-Mensah on Monday, along with a historic interview with Philadelphia Eagles’ vice president of football operations, Catherine Raiche.
Monday’s meeting with Raiche will be the first known GM interview with a female candidate.
Interviews:
— #Bears will interview Eliot Wolf of the #Patriots Tuesday.
— #Vikings talk to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah today (Catherine Raiche, too), then Brandon Brown of the #Eagles tomorrow. Wolf and Glenn Cook of the #Browns go Thursday. John Spytek of the #Bucs is also this week.— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 17, 2022
Of course, Raiche’s candidacy goes beyond an incredible benchmark that should have been broken a long time ago. She has served in administrative roles and as an assistant general manager with the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League.
Her initial job in Philly was football operations coordinator in 2019 before being bumped to VP of football operations in 2021. So Raiche is clearly a rising star in the executive ranks of the NFL.
Susan Tose Spencer was the first woman to land a GM job in the NFL after being promoted by her father—then owner Leonard Tose—for the Eagles in 1983. When speaking about this historic moment for Raiche, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo made a prediction.
“I think she’s going to get a general manager job in the future, and I think it’s going to be a good hire,” said Garafolo
Whether the Vikings are the team to make that hire remains to be seen, but an interview is certainly a step in the right direction.
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