Report: The Vikings Are Waiting on One More Interview for Their DC Job

Name: Report: The Vikings Are Waiting on One More Interview for Their DC Job
Uploaded: 2023-02-01T16:05:44-06:00
Channel: Josh Frey
Description: Reportedly, the Minnesota Vikings are waiting on at least one more interview before making a decision on their defensive coordinator in 2023.

Josh Frey |

Feb 1, 2023

Every Draft Pick Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Has Played a Role in Making

Nov 24, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah looks on before the game against the New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sport.

While the rest of the league has progressively finished their hiring processes for both head coaching and coordinator jobs, the Minnesota Vikings hiring process for their defensive coordinator spot has been relatively slow and methodical over the past couple weeks. Apparently, a big cause for this is the fact that the Vikings are waiting on one more interview for this job: current Denver Broncos DC Ejiro Evero.

On Tuesday afternoon, Darren Wolfson of KTSP and SKOR North initially discussed on a SKOR North podcast that this could be a possibility, and then on Wednesday, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert confirmed on Twitter that, indeed, the Vikings are hoping to get an interview with Evero before finalizing their decision on who will be Minnesota’s defensive coordinator in 2023.

The reason the Vikings' search for a defensive coordinator has been quiet lately is that, per sources, they're waiting to see if they can get an interview with the Denver Broncos' Ejiro Evero. At the moment, he's a candidate for the head coach job in Indianapolis and Arizona.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) February 1, 2023

Since the Vikings fired Ed Donatell on January 19th, the Vikings have interviewed a grand total of four candidates (that we know of) in the following 13 days. Those candidates have been Sean Desai, Brian Flores, Ryan Nielsen, and in-house candidate Mike Pettine. Since then, Nielsen has accepted a spot with the Atlanta Falcons as their defensive coordinator.

Aug 10, 2022; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos defensive line coach Marcus Dixon (L) talks with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero (R) during training camp at the UCHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Currently, as Seifert states in the tweet, Evero is a candidate for head coaching jobs with both the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts. Flores, another candidate for the Vikings DC job, is also in the running for the head coaching job in Arizona, and he has actually become the favorite to land the job with the Cardinals on many betting platforms.

If you want someone with a coaching connection to Kevin O’Connell for the Vikings defensive coordinator job, Evero is probably the guy you’re rooting for. He spent the 2022 season as the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator, and they ranked seventh in scoring and 14th in yards during this past season. Granted, there is probably more talent on that Denver defense than in Minnesota (currently, at least), but that is an impressive season nonetheless.

Aug 22, 2020; Inglewood California, USA; Los Angeles Rams safety coach Ejiro Evero during a scrimmage at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

As for his connection to O’Connell, the two of them spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons together with the Los Angeles Rams where Evero was the safeties coach in 2020 and the defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach during 2021. Evero also spent time with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in San Francisco.

Also Read:
Aaron Rodgers Speaks on His Future Again

Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.