Ex-Vikings QB Coach Lands Sweet Promotion
For the entire Mike Zimmer era, the Minnesota Vikings employed a coach named Andrew Janocko, and now removed from Minnesota for five years, Janocko will finally get a chance to lead an offense by himself, earning the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator job over the weekend. He follows another ex-Vikings coach, Klint Kubiak, who accepted a gig as the Raiders’ head coach last week.
Vikings fans have tracked Janocko’s climb, and the latest jump is quite the arrangement.
Outside of Minnesota, various former coaches have found luck earning promotions, and Janocko is merely the latest in the trend.
Janocko’s Next Step Another Vikings Success Story
Seattle’s new offensive boss will sound familiar.
Janocko Tabbed as Raiders OC
Janocko served as the Seahawks’ quarterback coach in 2025, empowering Sam Darnold to succeed as a Super Bowl champion. Now, he’s in charge of the whole offensive enterprise in Las Vegas.
ESPN’s Ryan McFadden wrote Sunday, “The Las Vegas Raiders have hired Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko as offensive coordinator after meeting with the organization Sunday, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Janocko will once again reunite with first-time head coach Klint Kubiak, whom he worked with in Seattle, New Orleans and Minnesota.”
“Janocko was also a candidate for the same title in Seattle as Kubiak’s successor. Janocko and Kubiak will be tasked with turning around a Raiders offense that was one of the worst in the league in 2025. Under Chip Kelly and interim offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, Las Vegas was last in points scored (14.2), rushing yards per game (77.5) and total yards (245.2), and 26th in red zone efficiency (50%).”
It’s Janocko’s first stab at an OC post.
Inheriting Four Decent Pieces
To put it kindly, Janocko has his work cut out for him. Already on the roster for 2026, he’ll have these players to work with:
- Brock Bowers (TE)
- Ashton Jeanty (RB)
- Kolton Miller (OT)
- Jackson Powers-Johnson (G)
And that’s about it. Janocko must hope that general manager John Spytek finds two or three offensive line pieces, two or three productive wide receivers, and a quarterback. The QB1 should be straightforward, as Las Vegas is poised to draft Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in nine weeks. But Mendoza, of course, will need time develop.
The Raiders’ best bet is to build around Jeanty for the next two seasons, with the understanding that Mendoza will gradually come into his own along the way.
Las Vegas’s offense ranked 31st in DVOA in 2025 and 29th in 2024. Kubiak and Janocko must rebuild one of the worst groups in the sport.
Janocko’s Career Travels
Curious about Janocko’s journey? We’ve got you covered. Here’s his body of work since coming up under Mike Zimmer in 2025:
— Minnesota Vikings (2015–2016)
Offensive quality control coach
— MIN (2017)
Assistant offensive line coach
— MIN (2018)
Co-offensive line coach
— MIN (2019)
Assistant offensive line coach
— MIN (2020)
Wide receivers coach
— MIN (2021)
Quarterbacks coach
— Chicago Bears (2022–2023)
Quarterbacks coach
— New Orleans Saints (2024)
Quarterbacks coach
— Seattle Seahawks (2025)
Quarterbacks coach
— Las Vegas Raiders (2026)
Offensive Coordinator
It’s worth noting that Cousins arguably produced his best season in the NFL in 2021 — the year Janocko began his journey as a quarterbacks coach. And, of course, Darnold made history — and embarrassed the Vikings’ front office — in 2025.
Just Blog Baby‘s Levi Dombro opined on the Janocko hire, “The Andrew Janocko hire could be big for Fernando Mendoza’s development. Janocko has tons of familiarity with Kubiak, but more importantly, he has plenty of experience playing quarterback and coaching the position. He played Division I quarterback at Pittsburgh for four years before becoming a coach and primarily working with signal-callers.”
“After several years of working his way through the ranks, Janocko settled in as a quarterbacks coach in 2021 with the Minnesota Vikings before a two-year stint in the same role with the Chicago Bears, and then one-year stints with the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks in the same capacity.”
If the beginning of the Mendoza era in Las Vegas proceeds smoothly, Janocko will be in line for a head coaching job somewhere.
Dombro continued, “Kirk Cousins had the best statistical output of his career when Janocko was the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach, throwing for 4,221 yards and 33 touchdowns compared to just seven interceptions. Then, he took that flare to the Bears. In Chicago, Janocko worked with Justin Fields, who improved his completion percentage, passing yards and touchdown numbers across two seasons.”
“To date, Fields’ two years with Janocko are his best in the NFL, namely the 2022 campaign, where he finished ninth in MVP voting.”
Notable Ex-Vikings Coaches This Offseason
If the title of this article sounds familiar, well, oodles of former Vikings skippers earned promotions in the last month. Kevin Stefanski, who forged a similar path to Janocko, is now the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach. The aforementioned Kubiak is the Raiders’ top dog. Drew Petzing, also from the Zimmer era, will run the Detroit Lions’ offense.
Daronte Jones became the Washington Commanders’ defensive coordinator. Tight ends coach Brian Angelichio, who was with the Vikings in 2025, is now in charge of the Steelers’ offense. And former quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski was in the mix for the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns’ head coaching jobs before returning to Jacksonville as the offensive coordinator.
In the last decade, the Vikings have represented a promotion factory. Janocko is the latest example.
He’ll turn 38 in April.
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