2020 Offseason News Thread (Signings, Coaching changes, etc.)

[Mothman]

This is a thread for offseason news about the team (signings, departures, free agent visits, etc.)

To start: Vikings Assistant GM George Paton has removed himself from consideration for the Browns GM job. More info here:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2 ... rowns-g-m/

and here:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2 ... s-g-m-job/

[Mothman]

Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer have been name as co-defensive coordinators:

https://www.vikings.com/news/vikings-na ... ordinators

By my count, that now gives the Vikings 3.

According to Ben Goessling on Twitter, both men will continue coaching their position groups:

https://twitter.com/GoesslingStrib/stat ... 5067068418

[Mothman]

Ben Goessling
@GoesslingStrib

Other changes to the staff:

—Assistant OL coach Andrew Janocko moves to coach wide receivers, replacing Drew Petzing.

—Former Bengals and Dolphins coach Daronte Jones replaces Jerry Gray as DB coach.

—Former Redskins and Broncos coach Phil Rauscher is assistant OL coach.

Goessling also tweeted:

One other change to the staff: Assistant defensive backs coach Jeff Howard, who’d been with the team since 2013, is no longer with the team. That means the Vikings’ DB room will be under completely different leadership in 2020, which is perhaps to be expected after an uneven year

[akvikingsfan]

Per Vikings

The Vikings are going with a pair of strong football minds to take over the team's vacant defensive coordinator role, as Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer will share those duties in 2020.

[Maelstrom88]

So essentially Mike Zimmer.

[RandyMoss84]

I am not happy with that, why not hire Marvin Lewis? I never heard of 2 coaches having the same title which is weird but I hope they will both prove me wrong

[VikingPaul73]

I don’t like this at all
Should have gone with Patterson and made Zimmer Jr an assistant or something, if this is the path they wanted to go.
But Co-D coordinator? I hate it

I’ve had a few drinks so maybe I need a day to digest this but my initial response is ... ugh

It should have been Patterson with Zimmer Jr in a subordinate position

[Dames]

I don’t like this at all
Should have gone with Patterson and made Zimmer Jr an assistant or something, if this is the path they wanted to go.
But Co-D coordinator? I hate it

I’ve had a few drinks so maybe I need a day to digest this but my initial response is ... ugh

It should have been Patterson with Zimmer Jr in a subordinate position

I don't love it either. Seems unnecessary. But, I'm a firm believer that there needs to be one person who can make the final call (on design, personnel, etc), and when there are 2 people involved, that makes it trickier if they disagree. I suppose it falls on Zimmer Sr to be the tie-breaker. In my experience this happens when someone didn't want to make a hard decision, so they are sharing duties. Meh. I know it probably won't matter much. Just kinda bugs me.

[Mothman]

I don't love it either. Seems unnecessary. But, I'm a firm believer that there needs to be one person who can make the final call (on design, personnel, etc), and when there are 2 people involved, that makes it trickier if they disagree. I suppose it falls on Zimmer Sr to be the tie-breaker. In my experience this happens when someone didn't want to make a hard decision, so they are sharing duties. Meh. I know it probably won't matter much. Just kinda bugs me.

It's pretty hard to overlook the fact that one of those co-defensive coordinators is Zimmer's son. The move not only looks indecisive, it looks like Mike is padding his son's resumé, perhaps before the whole thing blows up in 2021.

I know I'm feeling cynical these days but everything about this team's situation screams that significant change is not only on the horizon but almost inevitable. They have cap issues, an expensive QB in the final year of his deal, a coach and GM in the final year of their deals and an aging defense. This is what teams sometimes look like before they start to come apart. The moves they've made at coordinator can be viewed in more than one way. Promoting from within suggests an effort to maintain continuity (and that could be all they are) but they may also reflect the difficulty of hiring from outside the organization when the HC is in the final year of his contract.

I think the biggest question of this offseason is: will Zimmer and Spielman receive contract extensions? I don't just mean cosmetic extensions either. If they're extended through 2021, that will likely still be an indication they're in a "prove it" year in 2020.

[Dames]

It's pretty hard to overlook the fact that one of those co-defensive coordinators is Zimmer's son. The move not only looks indecisive, it looks like Mike is padding his son's resumé, perhaps before the whole thing blows up in 2021.

Oh, that definitely crossed my mind too. His son may be a quality coach, but the hire does leave some questions. I would really like to know how the relationship between Patterson and Zimmer Jr is. Honestly though, it may be Patterson choosing to pad his resume a bit too, and rather than turn it down, he figured half is better than nothing. Or, maybe they get along perfectly, and they both love the arrangement. I don't know, typically one of the guys feels slighted in these situations. My bet is on Patterson if that's the case.

I know I'm feeling cynical these days but everything about this team's situation screams that significant change is not only on the horizon but almost inevitable. They have cap issues, an expensive QB in the final year of his deal, a coach and GM in the final year of their deals and an aging defense. This is what teams sometimes look like before they start to come apart. The moves they've made at coordinator can be viewed in more than one way. Promoting from within suggests an effort to maintain continuity (and that could be all they are) but they may also reflect the difficulty of hiring from outside the organization when the HC is in the final year of his contract.

I think the biggest question of this offseason is: will Zimmer and Spielman receive contract extensions? I don't just mean cosmetic extensions either. If they're extended through 2021, that will likely still be an indication they're in a "prove it" year in 2020.

We'll know a lot more over the next couple months I think, but I have those same concerns. It looks "not great" right now. The thing is, I don't want anything to change. I want them all to prove it this year. I certainly don't want to see long extensions quite yet.

We didn't hear a lot of noise about the Vikings looking into outside hires, so it may very well be that this was their plan all along.

[Mothman]

Oh, that definitely crossed my mind too. His son may be a quality coach, but the hire does leave some questions. I would really like to know how the relationship between Patterson and Zimmer Jr is. Honestly though, it may be Patterson choosing to pad his resume a bit too, and rather than turn it down, he figured half is better than nothing. Or, maybe they get along perfectly, and they both love the arrangement. I don't know, typically one of the guys feels slighted in these situations. My bet is on Patterson if that's the case.

That's probably a safe bet.

We'll know a lot more over the next couple months I think, but I have those same concerns. It looks "not great" right now. The thing is, I don't want anything to change. I want them all to prove it this year. I certainly don't want to see long extensions quite yet.

Same here. I'd love to see them prove it and then if they're extended, everyone could feel considerably better about it.

We didn't hear a lot of noise about the Vikings looking into outside hires, so it may very well be that this was their plan all along.

It seems likely. Clearly, Kubiak was the frontrunner for OC and I think most of us expected a promotion from within at DC (we just didn't expect 2 and for those coaches to continue coaching positions).

[CharVike]

I don’t like this at all
Should have gone with Patterson and made Zimmer Jr an assistant or something, if this is the path they wanted to go.
But Co-D coordinator? I hate it

I’ve had a few drinks so maybe I need a day to digest this but my initial response is ... ugh

It should have been Patterson with Zimmer Jr in a subordinate position

I don't love it either. Seems unnecessary. But, I'm a firm believer that there needs to be one person who can make the final call (on design, personnel, etc), and when there are 2 people involved, that makes it trickier if they disagree. I suppose it falls on Zimmer Sr to be the tie-breaker. In my experience this happens when someone didn't want to make a hard decision, so they are sharing duties. Meh. I know it probably won't matter much. Just kinda bugs me.

As a HC hard decisions need to to made. I was hoping they would get some new blood in here and shake the entire D up. If this D doesn't make dramatic improvements then we will have a hard time beating a good team. That's been Zim's story since he's been here. I can't knock the crap out of the guy because based on our history he would be considered one of the better HCs we have had. Even last year would have to be ranked as a very good season. We won a playoff game and we beat a very good team on the road. Our D actually showed some life and Zim came up with a great game plan. We got lucky with the fact that the Siants HC didn't use Hill more. Unfortunately that 49er team was too much on that particular day. Our team is better than the so so teams but we can't reach the top. IMO our D isn't good enough for that to happen. We didn't get beat by a stiff team and that's hard to do and why we made the post season. This is Zim giving his kid a credit on his resume. I can't knock that. It looks stupid and it is but I imagine Zim is the DC anyway. This HC stuff is a side gig.

[J. Kapp 11]

I am not happy with that, why not hire Marvin Lewis? I never heard of 2 coaches having the same title which is weird but I hope they will both prove me wrong

I hadn't thought of the idea of Marvin Lewis, but I would have loved that. Lewis and Zimmer have history together, worked well together in Cincinnati.

Honestly, I like Zimmer, but these father-son things. They usually reek of nepotism. For every Mike-Kyle Shanahan situation, it seems like you get 10 Don-Mike Shulas. On the Vikings, we've got Gary-Klint Kubiak and Mike-Adam Zimmer. Not a fan.

[Cliff]

Look, it doesn't take a genius to know that every organization thrives when it has two leaders. Go ahead, name a country that doesn't have two presidents. A boat that sets sail without two captains. Where would Catholicism be without the popes?

[Dames]

Look, it doesn't take a genius to know that every organization thrives when it has two leaders. Go ahead, name a country that doesn't have two presidents. A boat that sets sail without two captains. Where would Catholicism be without the popes?