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There have been some changes on the Minnesota Vikings’ coaching staff in preparation for the 2017 NFL season. The team announced those changes earlier this week, with two new faces being added to the staff and a couple of coaches moving to different spots.
We mentioned the hiring of new running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu earlier this week. He’s one of the two new coaches on the offensive coaching staff. The other one is new tight ends coach Clancy Barone. Barone was most recently the offensive line coach for the Denver Broncos, a position he has held for the past two seasons, as well as during the 2010 season. He coached the Broncos’ tight ends from 2011 to 2014.
One of the coaches that will be shifting positions is Kevin Stefanski, who will move from coaching the running backs to coaching the quarterbacks. Stefanski has been employed by the Vikings since 2006 when he was brought aboard by Brad Childress. He was the assistant quarterback coach with the Vikings from 2009 to 2013, and coached the tight ends in 2014 and 2015 before moving to the running backs this past season. He replaces Scott Turner, who was let go by the Vikings following the 2016 season.
All of this, of course, was made possible by the naming of Pat Shurmur as the full-time offensive coordinator, removing the interim tag that he received after Norv Turner’s resignation in November. Shurmur had been the tight ends coach prior to Turner’s resignation, but took on the OC duties as well.
No coaching changes were announced for the defensive side of things, which can probably be viewed as a positive.
That’s the shuffling of the coaching staff for the Minnesota Vikings for this offseason it appears, folks. Hopefully these hires will help to usher in some improvement on the offensive side of things for the purple.