Fans Should Be Excited after the Vikings Coordinators Press Conference
In order to introduce the new Vikings coordinators to the public, a press conference dedicated to them was held yesterday afternoon. The main theme of this day for me was an emphasis on growth and openness. Below is a link to the entire 51-minute press conference if you missed it.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell began the presser with glowing remarks of each of his new coordinators, naming each way he expects them to bring a winning culture to the franchise. Here are his thoughts on the first coach on the docket, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell.
For me, Donatell’s time at the microphone stood out the most. The 65-year-old has been coaching NFL defenses since 1990 and has 10 years of experience as defensive coordinators. Last season, he helped coach a young, talented Denver Broncos defense to a top-10 ranking in both yards and points allowed. Of all the new Minnesota Vikings coordinators, he is easily the most proven and longest tenured in the NFL. So, what keeps Donatell motivated to coach at the highest level? Well, he pointed to a desire to teach as well as learn from the young guys in the league.
Communication between coach and player is something that seemed to be lacking especially towards the end of the Mike Zimmer era in Minnesota. Right away, this seems like an excellent turn in a new direction. New offensive coordinator Wes Phillips also expressed excitement to work with a talented group on offense. Mostly, he pointed to Justin Jefferson.
Fans who grew frustrated with Zimmer last season will also love what Phillips said throughout his 17 minutes at the mic. Throughout his time in the NFL, Phillips has been a guru at creating passing schemes. He was the passing game coordinator as well as the tight ends coach in Los Angeles alongside O’Connell. This past shone through during the presser. When asked about what his scheme and whether he will put an emphasis on the running game, here’s what Phillips said:
If you aren’t excited about that quote, I don’t know what to tell you. Phillips is a guy that has proven to be adaptable throughout his coaching career, and now he gets a chance to prove what he can do when running an offense.
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Finally, the guy who spent the least amount of time at the podium is one that packed the most punch with the fewest words. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels only spent 13 minutes at the mic, but he hit all the keywords that fans wanted to hear like “aggressive”, “attack”, “compete”, and “intense”.
Daniels is extremely proven on the special teams. Last year in Dallas, his unit blocked the most punts, returned a kick for a touchdown, and led the league in net yards per punt. Kene Nwangwu obviously returned a pair of kicks for touchdowns in 2021 while making the All-Pro team as a return man. Daniels expressed a ton of excitement to work with the second-year player, saying “I see him being an elite returner in this league”. He also said that he sees both Greg Joseph and Jordan Berry returning to the team right now, but backtracked a bit saying, “it’s too early to really say”.
Of course, this is just the first press conference to introduce the coordinators. They are going to try to say the right things and start off on the right foot. That said, this really seems like a rejuvenated staff that is going to bring a lot of energy to the Vikings organization. We’ll see how it plays out on the field, but all signs point upwards as of now.