Report: Vikings Will Miss Out on Another Defensive Coordinator Candidate
Josh Frey
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On Friday afternoon, news broke that Sean Desai has decided he will step away from the running for the Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator job. The news that the Vikings will miss out on another candidate for their job was reported by Mike Klis of 9NEWS.
Desai’s decision to focus on the Denver job makes sense. The Broncos defense currently is set up for much more success right now than the Vikings with so many question marks on Minnesota’s roster. However, this means that of the four candidates that the Vikings have interviewed, they are now only in the running for two of them: Brian Flores and in-house candidate Mike Pettine. Ryan Nielsen, the Vikings first defensive coordinator interview, recently took a job with the Atlanta Falcons in the same role.
Desai interviewed with the Vikings nearly two weeks ago, but now that the Broncos officially traded for Sean Payton, former Broncos coach Vic Fangio recommended, again per Klis, that the 2022 Seahawks defensive coordinator focus on getting the job in Denver.
This is certainly a frustrating outcome, but it does further open the door to the possibility that Ejiro Evero, Denver’s defensive coordinator for the 2022 season, could be the coach that the Vikings end up landing. There was another report earlier in the week that Minnesota’s decision on their DC job is being held up by a desire to get an interview with Evero.
Both Evero and Flores remain in the running for the head coaching gig with the Arizona Cardinals, and the Broncos have also put in a request to interview Flores for their coordinator job, meaning that Payton’s Broncos are in the running for the same folks that the Vikings have expressed interest in other than Pettine.
Evero is an intriguing candidate for the Vikings DC position because he has prior experience with both general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as well as head coach Kevin O’Connell. Evero and Adofo-Mensah crossed paths within the 49ers organization, and Evero was with the Los Angeles Rams during each of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
This latest news around Desai just adds another wrinkle to Minnesota’s decision-making process. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight anytime soon, and it may end up coming down to which coaches get head coaching gigs in both Arizona and Indianapolis. Time will tell how this situation unfolds in the coming days and weeks.
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.