Image - Scot Tucker/SFBay
According to Adam Caplan of SiriusXM radio, Eden Prairie native Todd Downing has re-joined the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff. Downing, the former offensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders, is now Senior Offensive Assistant for the Vikings.
Downing started his coaching career an assistant at Eden Prairie High School from 1999-2000. He broke into the National Football League as a Research and Development Intern with the Vikings in 2001. As you can see from his resume, he’s risen through the ranks of NFL coaching positions.
The 2015 Pro Football Focus QB Coach of the Year received praise for his work with Raiders quarterback Derek Carr after standout 2015 and 2016 seasons. Downing was named Offensive Coordinator in 2017 but was let go by Oakland after the Raiders hired head coach Jon Gruden following the season.
Downing and offensive coordinator John DeFilippo are both new additions to the Vikings’ offensive coaching staff. The team’s former offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, was named the New York Giants head coach following the 2017 season.
Between Downing (Age 37), DeFilippo (39) and QB coach Kevin Stefanski (35), the Vikings have a trio of young, innovative offensive minds that will each have input in helping determine the team’s future direction at quarterback.
View Comments
Ah, the 2015 QB Coach of the Year for PFF is a tasty bit of information.
I've got to say, with DeFilippo, Stefanski and now Downing, it's looking less and less likely that the next QB1 will be Keenum, Bradford or some other veteran (20%) - stellar work with Foles, Case, Sam and even Kyle Orton (Downing), notwithstanding - and more and more that it will be either Bridgewater (50%), a draft pick (20%) or some other young'ish free agent QB like McCarron or Taylor (10%). Forcing Stefanski to stay because of his experience with Teddy makes more sense if Bridgewater's basically been the guy all along, which would probably mean that Zimmer was allowed to make the call basically by himself, never mind all the talk about how the new OC, "whoever he is," will have a big say in choosing who the next starting quarterback will be. And hasn't misdirection been part of Spielman's MO when it comes to the media and the draft in the past?
The emphasis on youth could continue with drafting a QB who drops to the end of the first or second round, bringing in a second tier younger QB free agent that one of the coaches has worked with before, like Johnny Manziel or E.J. Manuel, to compete for the QB2 job, perhaps with a youngster acquired via a trade who's flashed ability but desperately needs a change of scenery, like Trevor Siemian or Paxton Lynch (straight up for Treadwell kills two birds with one stone) from the Broncos or Cody Kessler from the Browns. This could also mean that the Kyle Sloter maniacs out there will get at least one of their wishes, that he gets a real shot at the back-up job instead of being relegate before training camp even opens to another season on the practice squad.
The team really likes Sloter so I'd be surprised if he's not part of the conversion for backup in 2018.
Could you guys do a story on Slotter on his potential?
I've floated the idea to the staff at VT and we're def going to come up with something for Sloter. In the meantime, here's a recent article by Stephen Nolan at our sister site, purplePTSD.
https://purpleptsd.com/whats-the-deal-with-kyle-sloter/