Rick Spielman promoted to Vikings GM on Tuesday - NFL News
The Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday made some front office changes promoting Vice President of Player personnel Rick Spielman to General Manager.
The decision was announced by owner Mark Wilf after long consideration to change the manner in which decision on players drafts and roster changes are made.
Mark Wilf endorsed the move in a press conference on Tuesday and felt that with Spielman as the general manager the Vikings will now be able to move in the right direction.
"We thought long and hard through the season, and we feel this is the right way. Knowing Rick and his body of work, we're confident he's the man to do it,"
Spielman will continue to perform duties related to scouting promising rookies and would help Coach Leslie Frazier build a team capable of returning back to high platform that Vikings fans demand.
"Leslie Frazier is our leader. But it's our responsibility to make sure he has the players to do that."
The changes were made after a particularly bad 2011 season for the franchise. The Vikings won just three games of their 16 encounters in the regular season and just about managed to tie the record for the worst season in the franchise history ending with
a 3-13 record and bottom of the National Football Conference North.
Coach Leslie Frazier however, faced no threats to his job during the season with the owners retaining faith in the Coach and his policies. The Vikings season was also constrained by the recurring injuries to star running back Adrian Peterson and rookie quarterback
Christian Ponder with the offense unable to make effective plays.
The announcement of the move was praised by the Coach who has created a close working relationship with Spielman in his previous role and believes that a permanent general manager will lead to better times for the franchise.
"Probably the biggest thing for us is that we have a general manager now who will be in charge of football operations. That is a good thing for our football team. We have a person that has final say on so many areas on our football team, and that's probably
the most important thing, just knowing that fact going forward."
The Vikings will look to rebuild for the upcoming 2012 regular season and hope that with the new setup the franchise can regain their lost glory. Coach Leslie Frazier will look to take full advantage of the drafts and sign some promising talent to provide
a fresh impetus for the franchise.
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