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Minnesota Vikings News & Rumors

Coaching Notes: Pack, Rathman, McCardell

January 28th, 2021 at 4:28pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Packers are making a change on special teams. They are firing ST coordinator Shawn Mennenga, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). A longtime college coach, Mennenga had previously served as Browns assistant ST coach before joining Matt LaFleur‘s staff in 2019. The Packers are expected to promote assistant ST coach Maurice Drayton to replace Mennenga, Pelissero tweets. At least one other team was interested in Drayton for such a role, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Drayton was in contention for this job two years ago.

Here is the latest out of Green Bay and from around the league:

  • Mike Pettine may not be locked in as Packers defensive coordinator next season. The veteran DC opted not to sign an extension last year, and Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com notes his contract is up. The Packers invested heavily in their pass rush and used three first-round picks on defenders from 2018-19 but dropped from 15th in defensive DVOA in 2019 to 17th this past season. Pettine is a holdover from Mike McCarthy‘s staff, having arrived in 2018.
  • Colts running backs coach Tom Rathman announced his retirement Thursday. The Colts hired Rathman in 2017, after his eight-year tenure as 49ers running backs coach ended. Rathman attempted to retire in 2019 and ’20, but the Colts successfully lobbied him to stay on, per The Athletic’s Stephen Holder (on Twitter). A decorated fullback who won two Super Bowls with the 49ers, Rathman coached running backs from 1997-2020. Sixteen of those years came in San Francisco.
  • Staying with the Colts, they are hiring former Jaguars QBs coach Scott Milanovich to replace Marcus Brady in that position, Joel Erickson of the Indianapolis Star tweets. Milanovich was Jacksonville’s QBs coach from 2017-19. Otherwise, he has spent his career in the CFL, having coached the Toronto Argonauts and, in 2020, the Edmonton Eskimos. The Colts promoted Brady to OC last week.
  • Longtime NFL wideout Keenan McCardell will resurface in Minnesota. The Vikings are hiring McCardell as receivers coach, per Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union (on Twitter). A longtime Jaguars pass catcher who broke into the coaching ranks in 2010, McCardell served as Jacksonville’s receivers coach from 2017-20 under Doug Marrone.
  • Ex-Colts DC Ted Monachino will be the Falcons‘ outside linebackers coach under Arthur Smith next season. Monachino, Indy’s DC from 2016-17, spent the past two years with the Bears. The Falcons also hired Jon Hoke to coach defensive backs. The older brother of Maryland HC Brady Hoke, Jon was the Terrapins’ defensive coordinator from 2019-20 but has coached NFL DBs for several seasons.

Patriots Were Finalists For Stefon Diggs

January 24th, 2021 at 6:46pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Bills’ thrilling run to the AFC Championship Game almost never happened. It’s unlikely Buffalo would’ve made it this far without Stefon Diggs, and they apparently came very close to losing him to a division rival.

Diggs was very nearly traded to the Patriots this past offseason, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. We had heard back in March that the Pats had expressed some interest, but we didn’t know how close they came until now. Rapoport writes that Buffalo and New England were the two finalists, and that the Vikings gave the Patriots a chance to match the Bills’ last offer.

Bill Belichick declined, and the rest is history. Interestingly, Rapoport adds that Minnesota never intended to trade the star wideout, “but had a number in mind of what it would take if it did.” He also writes that the Bills first tried trading for Diggs at the 2019 trade deadline but were rebuffed.

It’s fun to think about what would’ve happened had Belichick landed the top wideout. Diggs was ultimately traded on March 16th, the day before Tom Brady announced he’d be leaving New England. It’s unlikely that would’ve convinced Brady to stay as it seems his mind had been made up, but it would’ve at least given Cam Newton and the passing game a real viable threat in 2020.

Updated 2021 NFL Draft Order

January 18th, 2021 at 11:08am CST by Zachary Links

With the Divisional Round in the books, the 2021 NFL Draft order is mostly complete. The Rams, Browns, Ravens, and Saints now have their draft spots locked in, though the Rams’ first-round pick belongs to Urban Meyer and the Jaguars. The Rams traded those rights to Jacksonville as a part of the Jalen Ramsey blockbuster.

Here’s the updated draft order, through the top 28:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. New York Jets
3. Miami Dolphins (via Texans)
4. Atlanta Falcons
5. Cincinnati Bengals
6. Philadelphia Eagles
7. Detroit Lions
8. Carolina Panthers
9. Denver Broncos
10. Dallas Cowboys
11. New York Giants
12. San Francisco 49ers
13. Los Angeles Chargers
14. Minnesota Vikings
15. New England Patriots
16. Arizona Cardinals
17. Las Vegas Raiders
18. Miami Dolphins
19. Washington Football Team
20. Chicago Bears
21. Indianapolis Colts
22. Tennessee Titans
23. New York Jets (via Seahawks)
24. Pittsburgh Steelers
25. Jacksonville Jaguars (via Rams)
26. Cleveland Browns
27. Baltimore Ravens
28. New Orleans Saints

Broncos To Hire George Paton As GM

January 13th, 2021 at 11:51am CST by Zachary Links

The Broncos found their new GM. Vikings exec George Paton is finalizing a six-year deal with Denver, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link). 

Paton has rebuffed interview opportunities and job offers for years, citing his love of living in Minnesota. This time around, the Broncos’ offer was too good to pass up. Just recently, Paton seemed to be on the verge of becoming the Browns’ next GM, but he ultimately backed out. The Jets also made a strong push to hire him before Paton said no.

There were other interesting candidates in the mix, including Bears exec Champ Kelly, who has history with the Broncos. Still, Paton was their top target. Under the new structure, Paton and head coach Vic Fangio will report to John Elway, who will have less to do with the team’s day-to-day roster decisions. Elway was responsible for luring Peyton Manning to the team and helping to build a championship-caliber defense. But, things went downhill after Super Bowl 50. With Paton in charge, the Broncos believe they can work their way back to the top.

Saints exec Terry Fontenot and Broncos director of college scouting Brian Stark were also up for the job. Patriots assistant player personnel director Dave Ziegler was in the mix too, but ultimately backed out.

2021 NFL General Manager Search Tracker

January 12th, 2021 at 8:02pm CST by Zachary Links

This year’s NFL GM carousel figures to be more active than usual. The Falcons, Lions, Panthers, Texans, and Jaguars are all on the hunt for a new front office leader. And that’s only the official list. The real tally shows six clubs looking for a GM, since the Washington Football Team is expected to install a GM to work alongside head coach Ron Rivera. By mid-January, we could easily see a couple more jobs opening up — that’d put ~25% of the NFL on the market.

We’ll keep track of the GM candidates for each club here, along with their current status. If and when other teams decide to make general manager changes, they’ll be added to this list. Here’s the current breakdown:

Updated 1-19-21 (7:02pm CT)

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers 

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Washington Football Team

George Paton, Terry Fontenot Get Second Broncos Interviews

January 12th, 2021 at 9:30am CST by Zachary Links

Vikings’ Assistant GM/VP of Player Personnel George Paton will have a second meeting with the Broncos on Tuesday, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Ditto for Saints assistant GM Terry Fontenot, per Mike Klis of KUSA (Twitter link).

Bears exec Champ Kelly and Patriots assistant director of player personnel Dave Ziegler are among the other external candidates for the position. Ziegler has since backed out, opting to stay in New England. The Broncos also interviewed their own college scouting director, Brian Stark, though it’s not clear if he’s still in the running.

Fontenot has also been considered by the Lions, Jaguars, and Panthers in this cycle. The 40-year-old has been with New Orleans for 16 years. Paton, meanwhile, has been a hot GM candidate for some time. But, in years past, he rebuffed a number of opportunities.

2021 NFL Draft Order

January 11th, 2021 at 8:54am CST by Zachary Links

Wild Card weekend is in the books and 75% of the NFL’s 2021 Draft order has been set. Here’s the rundown, thus far:

1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. New York Jets
3. Miami Dolphins (via Texans)
4. Atlanta Falcons
5. Cincinnati Bengals
6. Philadelphia Eagles
7. Detroit Lions
8. Carolina Panthers
9. Denver Broncos
10. Dallas Cowboys
11. New York Giants
12. San Francisco 49ers
13. Los Angeles Chargers
14. Minnesota Vikings
15. New England Patriots
16. Arizona Cardinals
17. Las Vegas Raiders
18. Miami Dolphins
19. Washington Football Team
20. Chicago Bears
21. Indianapolis Colts
22. Tennessee Titans
23. New York Jets (via Seahawks)
24. Pittsburgh Steelers

Vikings, Dom Capers To Part Ways

January 8th, 2021 at 4:34pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Vikings and Dom Capers will part ways after a one-season partnership. Capers’ contract will be allowed to expire, with the Vikings announcing he will not be back in 2021.

Minnesota brought the former head coach and longtime Green Bay defensive coordinator in as a senior defensive assistant last year. While roster turnover and injuries gutted Minnesota’s defense, the unit ranked as by far the worst in Mike Zimmer‘s seven-year tenure.

Cuts of Xavier Rhodes and Linval Joseph preceded free agency defections of Trae Waynes, Mackensie Alexander and Everson Griffen. An injury sidelined Danielle Hunter for the entire 2020 season, and Anthony Barr was lost for most of it. The Vikings traded Yannick Ngakoue soon after as well. The new-look defense ended the year 29th in points allowed and 27th in total defense, though DVOA respected the undermanned unit’s work a bit more (18th).

Capers, 70, spent the 2019 season as a senior defensive assistant in Jacksonville. He came to a Vikings team that had parted ways with defensive coordinator George Edwards and installed Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer — Mike’s son — as co-DCs. The former head coach for multiple expansion teams — the Panthers and Texans — Capers has been an NFL coach since 1986. His most recent role of note was as Packers DC from 2009-17.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/5/21

January 5th, 2021 at 9:44am CST by Zachary Links

We’ll keep track of the latest reserve/futures deals here:

Carolina Panthers 

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Vikings OC Gary Kubiak To Retire

January 4th, 2021 at 1:38pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We just got word of one offensive coordinator vacancy as the Dolphins fired Chan Gailey, and now it looks like we’ve got another. Vikings offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak plans to retire, a source told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com.

Kubiak joined Minnesota in an advisory role in 2019, then took over as offensive coordinator this season after Kevin Stefanski left to take the Browns’ head coaching job. Kubiak is an incredibly accomplished coach, winning three Super Bowls as an assistant with the Broncos and 49ers before winning another won as head coach of Denver in Super Bowl 50. He also was the Texans’ head coach from 2006-13, and the Ravens’ offensive coordinator in 2014 before getting hired by the Broncos.

The Vikings were a disappointment this season, but that was mostly because of their defense, so it’s unlikely that he’s being squeezed out and this is probably entirely his call.There were a lot of positives to take away from this Minnesota offense, like Dalvin Cook rushing for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns in 14 games or rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson emerging to look like a star in the making.

Now at the age of 59, Kubiak has dealt with a couple of health scares in recent years, which was what caused him to step down as coach of the Broncos after a 9-7 2016 season. That initial retirement lasted only a couple of seasons though, so it’s entirely possible we haven’t seen the last of him on an NFL sideline even with this second retirement.

It’s unclear what the Vikings will do to replace him, but if they choose to promote from within like Mike Zimmer often likes to do, one logical candidate is Kubiak’s own son Klint Kubiak, who was the quarterbacks coach this past season.

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