The Minnesota Vikings are expected to announce Kevin O’Connell as their new head coach next week but the team has also been busy making several decisions on who will be on his staff next season.
The biggest change will come at defensive coordinator. Andre Patterson shared the title with Adam Zimmer for the past two seasons but accepted an offer to become the defensive line coach for the New York Giants on Thursday.
Patterson spent 10 total seasons in Minnesota and was in his second stint with the Vikings. The defensive line coach for eight of those seasons, Patterson oversaw the development of several pass rushers including Danielle Hunter, who posted a tribute to his former position coach on Twitter.
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According to the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling, Patterson’s reported successor will be Ed Donatell. The 65-year-old spent the past two seasons as the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator under Vic Fangio. Although he has run a 4-3 scheme for most of his career, the move could signal a shift to more of a 3-4 scheme this offseason.
There are also being moves made at the positional coaching level, with Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson reporting the Vikings will hire Chris Kuper to be their next offensive line coach. Kuper was a North Dakota standout and spent eight seasons in the NFL before breaking into coaching with the Miami Dolphins in 2016.
He was the assistant offensive line coach for the Broncos for the past two seasons and will replace Phil Rauscher, who became the offensive line and running game coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Wilson also reported the Vikings are planning to hire Deshea Townsend as their new secondary coach. Townsend spent 13 seasons in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions and was the secondary coach for the Chicago Bears for the past three seasons.
While there will be plenty of turnover with O’Connell’s staff, they plan on keeping Keenan McCardell around. McCardell served as the Vikings’ receivers coach last season and drew rave reviews from Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson this offseason.
The offensive coordinator position doesn’t have a reported hire but the Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson hinted that Rams passing game coordinator and TE coach Wes Phillips has been mentioned for the job.
With none of these moves official, it’s hard to guess what this means for the team moving forward. But after O’Connell is introduced, his staff should be finalized in the next several weeks.
