Deshea Townsend Pivots at the Last Minute, Heads to Jacksonville
The Minnesota Vikings have lost a number of assistant coaches to other teams in the wake of Mike Zimmer’s firing, most recently including their defensive line coach Andre Patterson, who heads to the New York Giants. Because of the number of outgoing coaches, the Vikings have found themselves looking at a number of new hires to bring in. One such candidate to join the new staff has been Deshea Townsend.
Townsend was looking like the top choice to be Minnesota’s defensive backs coach in 2022 to join the defensive staff headed by new DC, Ed Donatell. He is a former NFL CB, who played 13 years in the league. 12 of those years were with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1998-2009 where he won a pair of Super Bowls. Ever since, he has been coaching secondaries, most recently with the Chicago Bears.
Already, a proven champion with some prior success as a coach makes Townsend sound like a great candidate to join the Vikings staff. Additionally, he could have continued to change the Minnesota culture that is undergoing a major youth movement with Kevin O’Connell as the head coach. Even more intriguing, it seems pending UFA Patrick Peterson approved the choice as well. Here’s his reaction to hearing about the possible hire:
Not only does it seem Patrick Peterson wants to return to the Purple (which in and of itself is a headline story) but hiring Deshea Townsend would have made that even more possible.
However, the rumors are all for naught as Townsend will not be joining the Vikings staff. Instead, he will head to the Jacksonville Jaguars where it seems he will get a larger role than he would have in Minnesota. This makes sense for a young successful coach, but it means the search for a DBs coach will continue for the Minnesota Vikings.
