The Vikings have given Rick Spielman a promotion.
Spielman, who has been with the Vikings since 2006 as Vice President of Player Personnel, has been promoted to General Manager, the team announced today.
Spielman will oversee all the Vikings’ football operations. The Vikings, who six years ago infamously implemented a “triangle of authority” featuring vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, director of player personnel Fran Foley and head coach Brad Childress, have now picked one personnel man and and will let him do the job.
“This establishes the organizational structure that will lead to the long term success of the Vikings,” Vikings Owner/Chairman Zygi Wilf said in a statement. “Having watched Rick over the years, we have the utmost confidence that he will help us reach our ultimate goal of winning championships.”
Spielman will make the call on how the Vikings use the third overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft, and a major order of business for Spielman will be determining the future of the quarterback position. The Vikings thought they had a plan in place last year, when they drafted Christian Ponder and acquired Donovan McNabb, but McNabb was a disaster and late in the season head coach Leslie Frazier opened the door to Joe Webb potentially beating out Ponder as the starting quarterback. After the Vikings got it wrong at quarterback with McNabb last year, this year they have to get the quarterback position right.