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Minnesota Vikings News & Rumors

Vikings Hire Matt Daniels As ST Coordinator

February 21st, 2022 at 11:50am CST by Adam La Rose

Kevin O’Connell‘s staff has another addition. The Vikings have hired Matt Daniels as their new special teams coordinator, reports NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter).

Daniels, 32, had a four-year playing career in the NFL, split between the Rams, Jaguars and Chargers. Undrafted out of Duke, he was almost exclusively used on special teams while bouncing on and off of practice squads. Three years after his playing days were over, he began coaching in 2018.

Daniels’ first location on the sidelines was the same as his first home on the field. He worked as an assistant special teams coach with the Rams for two seasons. That led him to the Cowboys, where he held the same title for an additional two campaigns. This will be his first time leading a ST unit at the college or NFL level.

In 2021, the Vikings ranked 13th in the league in DVOA on special teams. That was actually a slightly higher ranking than their offensive and defensive units, but still a middle-of-the-pack performance indicative of the team as a whole. Daniels represents a young, comparatively inexperienced coach to lead the unit – not unlike the selection of Wes Phillips as offensive coordinator. With those two, along with O’Connell himself serving as an NFL head coach for the first time, there will be a steep learning curve as the team looks to return to NFC contention.

Vikings To Hire Rams’ Wes Phillips As OC

February 20th, 2022 at 7:54pm CST by Ely Allen

New Vikings’ head coach Kevin O’Connell has landed his top target at offensive coordinator as Minnesota is expected to hire Wes Phillips, who served as passing game coordinator for O’Connell in Los Angeles this past season, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. With O’Connell expected to call plays for the Vikings’ offense, Phillips’ role will be similar to what it was for the Rams. Phillips will be a factor in the planning and development of the offense.

Phillips is the son of former Broncos, Bills, and Cowboys’ head coach Wade Phillips and the grandson of former Oilers and Saints’ head coach Bum Phillips.

Phillips began his coaching career as a student assistant at UTEP before becoming the quarterbacks coach at West Texas A&M. After a year as quarterbacks coach at Baylor, Phillips joined his father’s staff as a quality control/offensive assistant when Wade was hired to coach in Dallas. After his father was fired, Wes was kept on by Jason Garrett as an assistant offensive line coach. In his last year in Dallas, Phillips coached tight ends, a role he went on to hold with Washington for five seasons before joining the Rams’ offensive staff.

Phillips is considered an up-and-coming coach in the league and will continue to learn in O’Connell’s offensive system. Similar to Eric Bieniemy in Kansas City, success of the Vikings’ offense will likely result in greater opportunities for Phillips, even though he won’t be calling the plays in Minnesota.

Vikings To Interview Chris Beatty For OC Job

February 19th, 2022 at 11:35am CST by Ben Levine

Kevin O’Connell is officially the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and he’s now looking to add some key members to his staff. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Twitter), the Vikings will interview Chargers receivers coach Chris Beatty for their offensive coordinator job. The interview will take place today.

Beatty had a long collegiate coaching career, including stints as co-offensive coordinator at Illinois and Maryland. After spending two seasons as Pittsburgh’s wideouts coach, he joined the NFL in 2021 as the Chargers receivers coach. During his first season in the role, the Chargers had a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.

We’ve been hearing various notes about O’Connell’s staff throughout the week. Notably, Dave Canales will remain as the team’s QBs coach, while Brian Angelichio and Curtis Modkins will serve as offensive pass and run game coordinators.

On the other side of the ball, Ed Donatell was recently confirmed as the team’s new defensive coordinator, giving the first-time head coach an incredibly experienced staffer on the defensive side of the ball.

Vikings Notes: Coaching Staff, Scheme, O’Connell

February 18th, 2022 at 1:51pm CST by Adam La Rose

With new head coach Kevin O’Connell in place, the Vikings made a number of announcements at his inaugural press conference. Among those was the confirmation of several assistants on his staff, as reported by ESPN’s Courtney Cronin (Twitter link). 

One of the most notable names on the list is that of Mike Pettine. The 55-year-old was reported to be joining the team’s staff earlier in the week, albeit not as the defensive coordinator as was originally thought by some. The team unveiled that his title will be assistant head coach, the highest-ranking position he’ll have had since his time in Cleveland in 2014-2015.

In addition, Ed Donatell was confirmed as the team’s new defensive coordinator, giving first-time HC O’Connell a vastly experienced staffer on the defensive side of the ball. Several assistants were also announced, each in the roles they were initially reported to be filling: Chris Rumph as defensive line coach, Chris O’Hara and Jerrod Johnson to work with the team’s quarterbacks, Chris Kuper and Justin Rascati to coach the offensive line, as well as Brian Angelichio and Curtis Modkins to serve as offensive pass and run game coordinators, respectively.

Here are some other Vikings notes, including further announcements from the presser:

  • As Ben Goessling of The Minneapolis Star Tribune writes, the Vikings will switch to a 3-4 base defense, something that hasn’t been seen in Minnesota since the 1980s. With that said, the team, like almost all in the NFL now, will still principally deploy its nickel package, and they plan to switch between three- and four-man fronts within drives and games.
  • In a widely expected announcement, O’Connell confirmed that he will call plays on offense. That will make him the first Vikings HC to do so since Brad Childress, and keep him in line with the structure he is leaving under the Rams and Sean McVay. O’Connell added that he plans to include the “up-tempo offensive concepts” he developed in L.A. within Minnesota’s offense.
  • One assistant coach who will not be following O’Connell to the Vikings is Jonathan Cooley. The Rams’ assistant defensive backs coach has been blocked from interviewing with Minnesota (Twitter link via Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic). Especially given the loss of Ejiro Evero earlier this offseason, keeping Cooley would be particularly important for the Rams.

 

Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell Expects Kirk Cousins Back In 2022

February 17th, 2022 at 5:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

With the Vikings changing regimes, the status of their four-year starting quarterback has understandably come up. Kirk Cousins carries the NFL’s third-highest 2022 cap hit, at $45MM, and is going into a contract year.

Minnesota attempted to trade up for Justin Fields last year and did select Kellen Mond early in the third round. But Cousins remains in place as the team’s starter. New head coach Kevin O’Connell responded to a Thursday question regarding Cousins’ status by indicating (via the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson, on Twitter) the 33-year-old passer is under contract. The former Rams OC followed that token endorsement up by saying he does expect Cousins to be the Vikings’ 2022 starter.

“I know he’s under contract, and I’m excited to coach him,” O’Connell said. “We’ve already started thinking about how we’re going to build our system for him. … I’m anticipating Kirk being a part of what we’re going to do.”

[RELATED: Cousins Wants To Finish Career With Vikings]

O’Connell compared Cousins to Matthew Stafford, calling each an “elite thrower,” via Tomasson (on Twitter). Despite entering the league three years after Stafford, Cousins is also going into his age-34 season. Cousins is attached to a fully guaranteed $35MM base salary. It would help the Vikings if Cousins agreed to another extension, which would allow the team to reduce his 2022 cap hit, but ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin does not get the sense the quarterback’s camp is eager to enter such discussions just yet. The 11th-year quarterback possesses considerable leverage, given his guaranteed salary and Minnesota’s lack of options behind him.

If Cousins plays out his contract ahead of another free agency run in 2023, it would hurt the Vikes’ ability to complement him. A report out of Minnesota over the weekend pointed to this scenario playing out. The team holds the NFL’s fifth-worst cap situation at present, sitting more than $16MM over the projected 2022 salary ceiling. But the former Washington QB has been in one of the most advantageous negotiating positions in NFL history, having arrived in Minnesota on a fully guaranteed three-year deal in 2018.

Teams eyeing Cousins in trades would want the Vikings to eat some of his salary, which would increase trade compensation. For now, Cousins is on track to work with O’Connell again. O’Connell was in place as Washington’s QBs coach in 2017, Cousins’ final season with the NFC East team.

Vikings Eyeing Another Rams Assistant

February 16th, 2022 at 9:35pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • New Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell is interested in more Rams assistants. Minnesota requested permission to interview Los Angeles assistant DBs coach Jonathan Cooley, per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic (on Twitter). The Vikes are eyeing Cooley for their secondary coach/passing-game coordinator position. After gigs at multiple MAC schools from 2018-19, Cooley joined the Rams in 2020. The Rams are already lost their top secondary coach, Ejiro Evero, to the Broncos. They are also expected to lose tight ends coach Wes Phillips and offensive assistant Chris O’Hara to the Vikings, who are interviewing Rams running backs coach Thomas Brown for their OC job.
  • New Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell is interested in more Rams assistants. Minnesota requested permission to interview Los Angeles assistant DBs coach Jonathan Cooley, per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic (on Twitter). The Vikes are eyeing Cooley for their secondary coach/passing-game coordinator position. After gigs at multiple MAC schools from 2018-19, Cooley joined the Rams in 2020. The Rams are already lost their top secondary coach, Ejiro Evero, to the Broncos. They are also expected to lose tight ends coach Wes Phillips and offensive assistant Chris O’Hara to the Vikings, who are interviewing Rams running backs coach Thomas Brown for their OC job.
  • The Vikings are poaching another assistant from the Broncos, being poised to hire Justin Rascati as their assistant offensive line coach, Mike Klis of 9News tweets. Rascati served as an offensive quality control coach in Denver last season. O’Connell is already bringing ex-Broncos staffers Ed Donatell and Curtis Modkins to Minnesota.

Deshaun Watson Open To Buccaneers, Vikings As Trade Destinations?

February 16th, 2022 at 5:57pm CST by Sam Robinson

Deshaun Watson has not played since Week 17 of the 2020 season and is entangled in multiple investigations related to alleged sexual assault and/or sexual misconduct. But the Texans quarterback has received three Pro Bowl nods and is just 26. This type of quarterback is rarely available, which will lead to buzz about his destination for a second straight offseason.

The Watson-Dolphins rumblings have quieted, with new Miami HC Mike McDaniel endorsing Tua Tagovailoa as his starter. The Dolphins were believed to be the only team for which Watson waived his no-trade clause last year, but he is now considering other teams. The Buccaneers and Vikings have emerged on the young passer’s radar, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes (ESPN+ link). After holding off on trade talks during most of the 2021 offseason, the Texans are prepared to move on.

At this juncture, Tampa Bay would make more sense as a destination. Tom Brady (for now) is retired, and the team has done work on Watson since its glaring quarterback need surfaced. Minnesota still has Kirk Cousins, but the team’s four-year starter is going into a contract year and has been mentioned in trades — albeit ones that would require the Vikings to eat some of their QB1’s salary. Watson is not interested in waiving his no-trade clause for a bad situation, with Fowler identifying a winning setup as the top item on the embattled QB’s checklist.

The Vikings have Cousins tied to a $35MM base salary in 2022 and a whopping $45MM cap number. Watson is also tethered to a $35MM base, and his 2020 extension calls for a $40.4MM cap number. The Vikings would be saddled with only $10MM in dead money by trading Cousins, but convincing another team to part with reasonable draft capital to take on the soon-to-be 34-year-old passer’s full base salary is probably unrealistic. It would be interesting to see Watson commit to a team that just hired a new coach and GM, but the Vikings do have Pro Bowl wideout Justin Jefferson as a top selling point.

Tampa Bay’s path is more complicated. The Bucs are holding out hope Brady reconsiders his retirement and returns for his age-45 season. But if the 22-year veteran drags out that process into the new league year, the Bucs may be forced to move on. Nearly half of the Bucs’ starting lineup is due for free agency, and without those players’ salaries on the books, the team currently holds barely $3MM in cap space. It will obviously take work for the Bucs to accommodate Watson’s salary, but the team completed a complex financial juggling act to retain its Super Bowl core last year.

Wes Phillips, Chris O’Hara To Follow O'Connell To Minnesota

February 16th, 2022 at 2:49pm CST by Adam La Rose

With the various changes to coaching personnel around the league winding down, teams are beginning to officially unveil their 2022 staffs. The Seahawks recently did so, confirming a number of changes following a disappointing season, but some important retentions as well.

As Bob Condotta of The Athletic tweets, Sanjay Lal is remaining with the team in his current role of wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator. The 52-year-old has worked with that position group on seven different teams dating back to 2009. He spent the 2020 campaign in Seattle, but spent last season in Jacksonville. Meanwhile, Karl Scott, 36, is officially being brought in as the team’s secondary coach and defensive pass game coordinator. That move had been expected since last week when it was reported the team was in talks with him.

In addition, Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network reports (in a pair of tweets) more names on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Dave Canales will remain as the team’s QBs coach, a role he first had in 2018, but he will no longer have the passing game coordinator title. Brad Idzik has been added as an assistant WRs coach; he entered the NFL with Seattle in 2019. Lastly, Nate Carroll has been promoted to senior offensive assistant, after spending 11 years with the Seahawks in various roles.

As for the defensive staff, Aaron Curry is now an assistant defensive line coach; the former Seattle draftee spent the last two seasons on their sideline. He will be joined in that role by Damione Lewis. Another former player on staff is DeShawn Shead, who has been promoted to defensive backs coach. The last to fit that description is Will Tukuafu, who is coming aboard as a defensive quality control coach.

Here are some other coaching notes from the NFC:

  • USA Today’s Mike Jones tweets that it is “sounding like” Wes Phillips and Chris O’Hara will be following newly-hired head coach Kevin O’Connell to Minnesota. The former, who is also the son of Wade Phillips, has been a TEs coach with three different teams, the most recent being the Rams. It was reported earlier this week that O’Connell was expected to give him the role of either OC or passing game coordinator. The latter only spent the 2021 season in L.A., but worked as an offensive assistant in Jacksonville and Washington before that.
  • According to Josh Kendall of The Athletic, the Falcons are parting ways with WRs coach Dave Brock (Twitter link). The 54-year-old has an extensive background in the college ranks, but his only NFL experience was in Atlanta starting in 2017. Chandler Henley, who had been an assistant offensive line coach with them, has left to join the Dolphins.
  • The Packers are supporting new ST coordinator Rich Bisaccia with Byron Storer, reports Matt Schneidman of The Athletic (Twitter link).The 37-year-old has worked with Bisaccia in each of his other three NFL coaching locations, and even knows Aaron Rodgers dating back to their college days.
  • Lastly, the Bears are hiring Brent Salazar as their strength and conditioning coach (Twitter link via Wilson). He has more than a decade of experience in the NFL, having previously worked with three different teams. He also spent the years between 2017 and 2020 as the director of performance for the United States Tennis Association.

Vikings Hire Kevin O’Connell

February 16th, 2022 at 10:41am CST by Zachary Links

It’s officially official. On Wednesday, the Vikings officially announced the hiring of Kevin O’Connell as their new head coach. 

“We are ecstatic to add Kevin as our head coach,” said Vikings owner Mark Wilf. “He is a strong leader, an innovative coach and an excellent communicator. Kevin played the game at all levels, which gives him a unique connection to players, and he is highly respected throughout the league. Vikings fans should be excited for the future of this team under Kevin’s direction.”

The Vikings shook hands with O’Connell two weeks ago, though they had to wait as his Rams went on to win the Super Bowl. As LA’s OC, O’Connell guided the unit to place No. 9 in total offense (372.1 yards/game). Meanwhile, his veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Cooper Kupp both enjoyed career years. Even when Odell Beckham Jr. was taken out of the championship game, the Rams’ offense still had enough juice to top a tough Bengals team and win it all — that’s a testament to the team’s remarkable depth, as well as O’Connell’s coaching.

O’Connell will be the Vikings’ first offensive-minded head coach since Brad Childress.The past two HCs — Mike Zimmer and Leslie Frazier — were known for their defense but did not deliver the desired results in Minnesota.

Although O’Connell is respected all around the NFL, he’s only been a play-caller for a three-month stretch, doing so after Washington fired Jay Gruden early in the 2019 season. Sean McVay kept the laminates in Los Angeles, but he’s always been a huge advocate of O’Connell, encouraging other clubs to consider him for head coaching jobs. That surely helped his case in Minnesota, though the Vikings didn’t need much convincing.

“As I spent time with Kevin during the interview process, it became immediately clear he will be a great partner in building this football team for long-term success,” said new Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. “He understands what is critical to leading a team that wins at the highest level, and he has an ability to simplify the complex, which will help us in problem-solving in all football areas. He is a genuinely positive person who will help create a high-energy internal environment.”

Vikings To Interview Thomas Brown For OC Job

February 15th, 2022 at 8:11pm CST by Ben Levine

Following a Super Bowl win on Sunday, Rams running backs coach Thomas Brown is now eyeing a potential promotion. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter), Brown will interview with the Vikings for their offensive coordinator job.

[RELATED: Vikings Plan To Hire Rams’ Kevin O’Connell]

Former Rams OC (and new Vikings head coach) Kevin O’Connell will surely recruit some of his fellow Rams coaches to Minnesota, and it appears that Brown is on his list. Only 35, Brown has made a rapid rise through the coaching ranks. Following a nine-year stint in the NCAA, Brown has spent the past two years with the Rams. After starting as RBs coach in 2021, Brown also earned the title of assistant head coach in 2021.

Thanks to his success in Los Angeles, Brown was considered for the Dolphins HC gig this offseason. According to Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network (on Twitter), Brown impressed the Dolphins brass, and the coach is considered a “respected offensive mind” around the NFL.

Meanwhile, the Vikings are finalizing their deal with O’Connell to be their new head coach, reports NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). An announcement is coming, and the press conference is expected to take place on Thursday.

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