Ex-Vikings Coach Turns Down Shot at NFL History
Former Minnesota Vikings coach Grant Udinski had a chance to become the youngest NFL head coach ever — and he walked away from it. Despite garnering interest from the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills, he will return to Jacksonville for a second campaign as their offensive coordinator.
On Monday, reports surfaced about Udinski withdrawing from the Cleveland opportunity, set to return to the Jaguars unless the Bills hire him. A day later, Buffalo decided to go with their very own offensive coordinator, promoting Joe Brady.
The Jaguars, meanwhile, announced that both their coordinators would be back in 2026: “The Jacksonville Jaguars have announced Offensive Coordinator Grant Udinski and Defensive Coordinator Anthony Campanile will remain with the team for the 2026 season.”
Had he landed a job, Udinski would’ve been the youngest head coach in NFL history. Given how well that worked out for the last team to set that record, it’s quite an intriguing option. The current record-holder is Rams head coach Sean McVay, who turned 31 days after his appointment. Udinski just turned 30 this month.
About Udinski, the Jaguars noted, “Udinski, 30, helped lead the Jaguars to a record-breaking offensive season in 2025. The team’s 474 points scored, 55 touchdowns and 356 first downs established franchise records. Jacksonville also ranked among the NFL’s top 10 in points per game (27.9, sixth), scoring margin (+138, fourth), first downs (356, seventh) and total touchdowns (55, fifth).”
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence set a new franchise record in touchdowns scored under his guidance and the team marched into the postseason.
Prior to making the move to Jacksonville, Udinski was a rising coach for the Minnesota Vikings. Kevin O’Connell snagged him from the Carolina Panthers as one of his first moves in 2022, adding him as assistant to the head coach & special projects. In 2023, he was promoted to assistant QB coach and the Vikings tagged on the assistant offensive coordinator title ahead of the 2024 campaign.
He was a Swiss Army knife at the Vikings’ headquarters. A year ago, Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling listed his slew of jobs in the building: “His unofficial roles include: mentor to McCarthy; post-practice pass rusher or receiver for Sam Darnold; advance scout and practice lieutenant for Phillips; complement to QB coach Josh McCown; ‘Crazy Grant’ to O’Connell’s kids; confidant, protégé and occasional comedic target for O’Connell.”
Shortly after his 29th birthday, J.J. McCarthy’s mentor was hired as Jacksonville’s OC.
O’Connell once said about Udinski, “He’s got such an unbelievable understanding, from his background on offense and defense, and his sheer football stamina is something I really admire. I joke with him all the time, ‘Nobody loves football like you, man.’ His mind never really wanders from it.”
Some Vikings fans have expressed their wishes that he would’ve remained with the Vikings, but unless O’Connell had fired both his offensive coordinator Wes Phillips and his QB coach Josh McCown last offseason, Udinski just had no reason to decline the double promotion from the AFC franchise. Mind you, that was right after a 14-3 season for the Vikings and making those kinds of structural changes would’ve been pretty strange.
Becoming the youngest head coach in NFL history is a headline-grabbing milestone, but it also comes with enormous risk. Young coaches are often handed unstable rosters, impatient ownership, and short leashes — a bad first stop can permanently derail a career. And the Browns, an organization that doesn’t stand for stability, could easily fall into that category.
Udinski may have recognized that Jacksonville offers something far more valuable than a rushed promotion: continuity, quarterback stability, and a proven offensive foundation he can continue to build on.
Another year or two of elite production could position him not just as a novelty hire, but as a top-tier candidate with leverage — able to choose his situation instead of chasing history for history’s sake. Ben Johnson followed a similar path after pulling out of the 2024 hiring cycle — returning a year later with far more leverage as the undisputed rock star of the market.