A familiar face in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is making a return to the 49ers.

Adofo-Mensah was fired by the Minnesota Vikings as their general manager back in January after things reportedly turned “ugly” behind closed doors, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

It didn’t take long for him to land on his feet as 49ers GM/president of football operations John Lynch announced Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis that Adofo-Mensah will be re-joining the organization as a personnel executive.

“One thing as I’m talking to you guys, I will give you a little heads up — we brought Kwesi back in the fold, and we’re really excited,” Lynch said during a scrum with Bay Area reporters. “It kind of happened organically. Kind of humbled that as a friend, Kwesi called me right when [the Vikings fired him] and just kind of as a throwaway, ‘Kwesi, we always loved having you, so just know you got a place with us.’ And that developed into more substantive talks, and we’re bringing him back in kind of a personnel executive role that, after the draft, I think we hope to give more finality to.”

Adofo-Mensah worked with the 49ers from 2013-19 in the football research and development department, then served as the Cleveland Browns’ vice president of football operations for two seasons before the Vikings hired him as GM in 2022.

Despite once being viewed as a bright young mind in NFL circles, the Vikings failed to win a playoff game under Adofo-Mensah’s leadership. The team also has taken plenty of criticism for their draft selection of quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who replaced this year’s Super Bowl LX champion with the Seattle Seahawks, Sam Darnold.

“He comes from [a research an development] background, right? But I think he’s expanded a lot since we last worked with him,” Lynch continued. “But I’ve always, first of all, just loved the person, known Kwesi for a long time, and then as an organization we just valued … He’s just really smart. He looks at things in different ways, and we like that. I think it only makes you better.

“We were saddened to lose him when he went first to Cleveland and then thrilled for him when he got his gig in Minnesota, and happy that he saw fit to join us when we asked him to.”

Like many players and coaches who have come through San Francisco, Adofo-Mensah will have a chance to revive his reputation around the NFL and possibly earn another shot at being a GM.

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