Minnesota Vikings General Manager and Head Coach Wish List

After Monday’s firings of head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman, the Minnesota Vikings are kicking off an offseason of transition. Zygi and Mark Wilf are conducting their third external coaching search and their first real external general manager search. The general manager search is up first. It’s expected that the Vikings initial GM targets will be revealed today through interview requests. It’s difficult to know of or know much about the people across the league that anonymously work in the football decision-making process. Former GMs are the best known but they are former GMs for a reason. For me, right now, it’s the scouting grunts that probably make the best candidates. When looking for skilled talent-evaluators, a good place to start is with the teams that annually draft well. Here are some of the candidates that currently intrigue me the most.

General Manager Wish List

Ed Dobbs, Indianapolis Colts, Assistant General Manager

Mike Borgonzi, Kansas City Chiefs, Assistant General Manager

Will McClay, Dallas Cowboys, Vice President of Player Personnel

Brandon Brown, Philadelphia Eagles, Director of Player Personnel

It’s a short list but I believe it’s a high quality list. Ed Dobbs and Mike Borgonzi are my easy favorites. I like their experience and I believe that both are ready to run their own team. I’d be thrilled with either. Borgonzi probably has the edge. He might have the edge for no other reason than his name. “Borgonzi.” It’s a versatile name. It can be an exclamation, a verb, adjective, anything. It’s fantastic. Borgonzi!

I’ve been curious about Will McClay for a while. For years, I believe that teams have tried to pry him from the Cowboys but his loyalty to the Jones family appears strong. In Dallas, he’ll forever have one or more of the Joneses over his shoulder. He’s never been the top decision-maker for the Cowboys and he never will be. The opportunity to be that for a team should be appealing. At least one would think that it’d be appealing. 

Brandon Brown is the least experienced of the four. That lack of experience makes him the biggest gamble  but he’d be an intriguing gamble. 

Head Coach Wish List

Byron Leftwich, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Offensive Coordinator

Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City Chiefs, Offensive Coordinator

Brian Daboll, Buffalo Bills, Offensive Coordinator

Matt Eberflus, Indianapolis Colts, Defensive Coordinator

Jerod Mayo, New England Patriots, Inside Linebackers Coach

There are a few others (Kellen Moore, Doug Pederson, Brian Flores, Todd Bowles) but the above five most frequently occupy my coaching thoughts. I’ve long favored defensive-minded coaches. Those coaches just seem to run closer to the way I see football. More chess match than explosive. After eight years of a revolving-door of offensive coordinators in Minnesota, I’m looking at things a little differently. If a team has any offensive success, their offensive coaches are soon head coaches of another team. The Vikings saw that happen with Pat Shurmur and Kevin Stefanski. They probably would’ve seen it happen with Gary Kubiak if he wasn’t already at the end of his coaching career. The NFL is too quarterback-centric to annually force a new offensive way on a player and team. If a team’s head coach is essentially the offensive coordinator the system will continue. History has shown that a close working relationship between a head coach and quarterback can be a good thing. Stability between the two is a very good thing. After six offensive coordinators in eight years, guaranteed consistency on the offensive side of the ball puts offensive coordinators on the top of my head coach wish list. 

When the Vikings were looking for a new head coach in 2014, Mike Zimmer was my early and only favorite. Todd Bowles, Dan Quinn, anyone other than Zimmer would’ve been a serious disappointment. It’s not like I would’ve turned my back on the team but it was Zimmer or bust for me. With this coaching search, I have no clear favorite. Most of my thoughts on a potential Vikings head coach often drift toward Byron Leftwich. His coaching rise has been swift and impressive. Sure, it helps that he’s called plays for Tom Brady the last two years. His work with Jameis Winston might be a greater indication of his scheming potential. I became even more impressed with Leftwich after a podcast interview. He sounded like a man and coach that was ready to be a head coach. Since his days as the Vikings running backs coach I’ve liked Eric Bieniemy. My one concern is his lack of play-calling duties in Kansas City. His situation with Andy Reid reminds me too much of Brad Childress. Brian Daboll and Matt Eberflus have impressed me as coordinators. I feel good about them. I like what they’ve done with their respective teams. I just feel like they are more of an unknown than Leftwich and Bieniemy. Jerod Mayo is the wild card of the above coaches. There’s something about him that reminds me of Mike Tomlin. Just like I felt about Tomlin in 2007, I don’t think that Mayo is ready to be a head coach. Just like Tomlin in 2007, Mayo might actually be ready to be a head coach. I’m certain that Jerod Mayo will be an NFL head coach soon. 

If I had to pick my top Minnesota Vikings GM/Head Coach combo, I’m probably leaning this way:

Mike Borgonzi

Byron Leftwich

I can’t wait to see where the searches lead. Skol!