Vikings’ defensive coordinator search takes a couple of negative turns

Feb 5, 2023 - 11:15 PM

Just when it looked like the defensive coordinator search for Kevin O’Connell and the Minnesota Vikings was starting to see some positive developments, things appear to have taken a negative track on this Sunday.

Our friends at Cat Scratch Reader (among others) are reporting that Ejiro Evero is going to be the Carolina Panthers’ new defensive coordinator under new head coach Frank Reich. Evero, who was let out of his contract by noted jerk Sean Payton on Saturday, signed with the Panthers before the Vikings even got a chance to interview him.

It’s worth noting, as several folks on social media have, that Evero had already interviewed with the Panthers once, as he spoke with the team about their head coach position before they hired Reich. That may have served to lay some of the groundwork in Carolina and helped the Panthers land their guy.

With that, the top candidate for the Vikings’ DC job appears to be current Pittsburgh Steelers assistant Brian Flores.

HOWEVAH. . .Flores is now getting a second interview for the head coaching job with the Arizona Cardinals and will also be interviewing for Evero’s old job with the Denver Broncos. So there’s a pretty solid chance that he won’t be the guy for the Vikings either, despite their interest.

If the chips should happen to fall that way, the only other person that the Vikings have interviewed to this point would be current defensive assistant Mike Pettine. I think I speak for quite a few of you out there when I say that I certainly hope the Vikings have a plan B (or a plan C or whatever plan we’re up to at this point) if Flores doesn’t work out, because I couldn’t imagine hiring a guy from the staff that oversaw last year’s defensive ineptitude would go over terribly well.

We’ll continue to monitor all of the developments. . .yes, even the disappointing ones. . .from the Vikings’ search for Ed Donatell’s successor. When we hear more, we’ll pass it on to you.