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Among assistant coaches in the National Football League, there might not be any that are as overlooked as Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator George Edwards. Even in this space, we often acknowledge the defense as Mike Zimmer’s defense, but Edwards obviously plays a huge role in the unit’s success as well.
Well, it doesn’t sound like everyone is overlooking Edwards, at least according to Close, Personal Friend of the Daily Norseman™ Tom Pelissero. When talking about potential names to watch when the coaching carousel spins up this offseason, he says that George Edwards is someone that could potentially get a very close look from NFL teams.
Noted on @nflnetwork: at least one #Vikings coordinator will be a hot head-coaching candidate, while another has an expiring contract that could mean other teams come after him. pic.twitter.com/emK6pozBJq
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 7, 2017
As Pelissero points out, Edwards’ name was put forward by the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a group that advocates for minority candidates for both head coaching and front office positions across the National Football League.
Andrew Siciliano, who is doing the segment with Pelissero linked above for the NFL Network, points out that he covered the East-West Shrine Game for the NFL Network last season. George Edwards was the coach of the West team for that contest, and Siciliano says that when the NFL Network crew got a chance to spend some time with Edwards, they got the feeling that he would be an NFL coach someday.
Pelissero also points out that Edwards’ contract with the Vikings actually expires at the end of this season, so not only could he be a potential head coaching candidate somewhere, he could move to a different defensive coordinator position if he wanted to and the Vikings would not be able to stop him. Would he do that? I honestly have no idea, but it’s a possibility.
A lot of the buzz about Vikings’ assistants potentially becoming head coaches has centered around offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur thus far. However, Edwards’ name might start coming up more and more as we get closer to the end of the regular season and teams potentially starting to hire new coaches. It’s something that’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.