This season, the Minnesota Vikings will be going with co-defensive coordinators in defensive line coach Andre Patterson and linebackers coach Adam Zimmer. Neither of them have been a defensive coordinator at the NFL level, and on Monday the Vikings brought in someone with plenty of experience to add to their staff.
Multiple outlets are reporting that the Vikings have added long-time NFL coach Dom Capers to their coaching staff, giving him the title of Senior Defensive Assistant.
To say that Capers has been around for a while would be an understatement. His coaching career goes back to 1972 when he got his start at Kent State, and he has been in the NFL in some capacity since 1986. He has been a head coach twice, as he was the first head coach in the history of both the Carolina Panthers (1995-1998) and the Houston Texans (2002-2005). He won the NFL’s Coach of the Year award in 1996 when he led the Panthers to a 12-4 record and a berth in the NFC Championship Game in just their second season.
Capers has also served as a defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Miami Dolphins, and the Green Bay Packers. He spent this past season in Jacksonville, where he held the same title of Senior Defensive Assistant.
I’m not sure what to make of this hire, to be honest. I get that it’s never bad to have another set of eyes on things and all that, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Capers, and his defenses towards the end of his time in Green Bay weren’t exactly setting the world on fire or anything.
What do you think of the Vikings adding Dom Capers to the coaching staff?