Good season, bad season, nearly every NFL offseason brings a shuffling of a team’s coaches. The Minnesota Vikings are coming off a very good season. Despite the disappointing end, Kevin O’Connell’s first season as head coach was a successful one. 13-4, NFC North champs. The offense was very good. The defense was very bad. One coaching shuffle was obvious. Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell was fired. Other teams that had to fill a coordinator position interviewed a legion of candidates. O’Connell cast a more selective net. The Vikings interviewed only four coaches during their search to replace Donatell.
Brian Flores
Ryan Nielsen
Sean Desai
Mike Pettine
The Vikings were reportedly interested in talking to Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. He was hired by the Carolina Panthers before that talk could happen. The Vikings hired Flores. He’s a fantastic addition. The defense should flip from one of the most passive I’ve ever seen to one of the most aggressive. That’s a very pleasant change. Perhaps the only negative to the Flores hiring is that his Minnesota stay could be a short one. That’s actually a good problem to have. Hiring a coach that brings so much success that he’s in demand for a head coach opportunity isn’t such a bad thing.
Brian Flores was the first and biggest part of this year’s Vikings coaching staff shuffle. Three coaches have departed for “promotions” with other teams.
Jerrod Johnson, assistant QB coach
A’Lique Terry, assistant DL coach
Ben Kotwica, assistant special teams coach
Jerrod Johnson was hired by DeMeco Ryans to coach the quarterbacks of the Houston Texans. This was the most disappointing of the above departures. It was also inevitable. Johnson is going to soar up the coaching ranks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in the conversation for head coach opportunities in about five years. Unless he bumped QB coach Chris O’Hara off the Vikings coaching staff, there wasn’t room for the promotion in Minnesota that he deserved. A’Lique Terry was hired to coach the offensive line at Oregon. Ben Kotwica was hired by Sean Payton to coach the special teams of the Denver Broncos. Each of the three coaches deserved advancement that they could only get elsewhere.
With Brian Flores now leading the defense, there is sure to be some departures among the defensive assistants. The first to depart for opportunities elsewhere was inside linebackers coach Greg Manusky. So far, he’s the only departure. I’m curious to see see if Flores brings in Gerald Alexander to coach the secondary in some fashion. At Cal from 2017-19, Alexander coached and taught the Golden Bears defensive backs into one of the best groups in the nation. As head coach of the Miami Dolphins, Flores swiped Alexander from Cal. It was great move for his career. It was a terrible move for Cal’s DBs. Alexander is currently available and be an excellent coaching addition for the Vikings.
The Vikings currently have three, maybe four, vacancies on the coaching staff.
LB coach
assistant DL
assistant special teams
I believe that the O’Connell and the Vikings created the assistant QB coach position because of the opportunity to hire Jerrod Johnson. I’m curious to see if they hire another assistant QB coach.
The shuffling continues.
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