Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer took a trip down to Mobile, Alabama this week for one of the year’s biggest scouting events – the NCAA’s Senior Bowl.
In a short interview yesterday, Zimmer touched on everything from Pat Shurmur’s coaching duties to the team’s conditioning practices.
Scout.com’s Tim Yoder broke down Zimmer’s comments about new tight ends coach Pat Shurmur, who recently left his role as offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles. According to Yoder, there had been some speculation that Shurmur’s offensive talents would be featured beyond the tight end position with an official title, such as “passing game coordinator,” but Zimmer nipped that in the bud.
“We’re not really into titles,” Zimmer said, “We just want guys that want to work and guys that want to be there. Pat was excited to be there. I think he was excited with the guys offensively to work with in (Kyle) Rudolph and also the team.”
Shurmur also gained experience running a range of different offensive systems during his time in Philadelphia, including a West Coast offense under former head coach Andy Reid and Chip Kelley’s high speed offense, which the Star Tribune’s Matt Vensel pointed out.
“He’s been with a lot of different offenses, been a head coach, been an offensive coordinator,” Zimmer said of Shurmur, “He’s coached the tight ends before, he’s had some experience with the Philadelphia offense, the West Coast offense. I think it’s just good to get more guys in that have input.”
In a piece that ran on ESPN this morning, Ben Gosseling also highlighted Zimmer’s comments about the issues that the Vikings have been having in the weight room. Zimmer is currently on the hunt for a new strength and conditioning coach after Evan Marcus was let go.
According to Gosseling, Zimmer said Marcus was let go “because we just had too many injuries in the weight room,” (Jerick McKinnon and John Sullivan reportedly among them).
Despite that, Zimmer isn’t planning on changing his training scheme, which involves a heavier emphasis on free weights over weight machines.
“I look for somebody that has a philosophy that I have,” Zimmer said. “We’re going to have free weights. That’s my philosophy.”
