Ed Donatell emerges as new favorite for Vikings’ DC position

Yesterday, we touched on three coaches that the Minnesota Vikings had interviewed for their defensive coordinator position under (presumed) new head coach Kevin O’Connell. This morning, news has emerged that the leading candidate for that job is. . .not one of those three guys.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN is reporting that the Vikings are now zeroing in on long-time NFL coordinator Ed Donatell to take over as the team’s next defensive coordinator.

The 65-year old Donatell has been a coach in the National Football League since 1990 and has been a defensive coordinator for three different NFL teams during that time:

• Green Bay Packers (2000 - 2003)
• Atlanta Falcons (2004 - 2006)
• Denver Broncos (2019 - 2021)

His other stops in the NFL. . .and there have been a lot of them. . .have seen him working as a defensive backs/secondary coach.

Donatell had recently been hired by the Seattle Seahawks as a senior defensive consultant, but if this story is true he might not even have time to get his office unpacked in Seattle before he heads to Minnesota.

Donatell does have some crossover with new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, as he was serving as the defensive backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers during the time that Adofo-Mensah was just getting started in the National Football League.

With a young, offensive-minded head coach like O’Connell getting ready to take over, having an experienced veteran on the defensive side of the ball probably isn’t the worst idea, and they don’t come a whole lot more experienced than Ed Donatell. We’ll see if this hire comes to pass, but for now he appears to be the new leader for the position.