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Earlier today, Ben Goessling, the Vikings ESPN reporter, dropped this little nugget about the coaching staff:
Zimmer said the #Vikings will extend all of the coaches who had expiring deals with Leslie Frazier. Most coaches are signed through '16.
— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) January 21, 2015
Who are those coaches? Well, the most famous...or infamous, depending on your point of view...is special teams coach Mike Priefer, who was at the center of the now resolved Chris Kluwe wrongful termination lawsuit from about this time last year. But that also means offensive line coach Jeff Davidson is also returning, along with several other assistants from Frazier's old staff. I'm not going to say Davidson coming back is a surprise...but it's kind of a surprise.
Last year, in the aftermath of Frazier's firing, Davidson was denied permission to speak to other teams by GM Rick Spielman, and anonymous reports out of Winter Park were that Davidson was unhappy about that. When you combine that with the generally poor to bad play of the offensive line in 2014, it wouldn't have surprised me if the Vikings had gone in the proverbial different direction with respects to the offensive line coach.
But Priefer, Davidson, and five other coaches that Mike Zimmer rehired from Leslie Frazier's staff will all be retained.
Goessling also mentioned this in his tweet, regarding the team needs, straight from Mike Zimmer himself down at the Senior Bowl:
Zimmer said #Vikings eight needs are at eight different positions. I'd venture to guess that another big cornerback might be one.
— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) January 21, 2015
Hmmm....very interesting. The one thing I love about this time of year is the potential for subterfuge and misdirection from the head coach regarding needs/wants/desires for his team. Do the Vikings have eight needs at eight different positions? Maybe, maybe not. I would argue they have essential needs at safety, inside linebacker, outside linebacker, and guard. That's four, for sure.
For secondary (as in primary and secondary, not defensive back secondary, sort of) needs, I could go with wide receiver, depending on the off season development of Cordarrelle Patterson. I could also buy running back, although the Vikings could roll with what they currently have if they needed to. I personally don't think they will, I'm just saying they could if they had to. Offensive line depth is an area I think they'll also address, and yes, I would think Ben is right when he speculates on another big corner that can play on an island, like Xavier Rhodes.
I mean, who wouldn't like having two shutdown corners opposite each other?
So, do you guys buy the fact that the Vikings have eight legitimate needs? More? Less? Let us know what you think!