To be their new offensive coordinator, the Minnesota Vikings have reportedly decided to hire former Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo.
It took a little longer than they probably wanted, but the Minnesota Vikings have finally found their guy to takeover their offense for next season . The Vikings will reportedly hire John DeFilippo as their new offensive coordinator according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday.
For the past two years, DeFilippo has been the quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. Under his guidance, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz transformed from a underwhelming rookie in 2016 to an MVP candidate in 2017.
Minnesota Vikings
Before he joined Philadelphia two years ago, DeFilippo was the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in 2015 and the quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders from 2012 to 2014. He has coached a wide variety of signal callers during his NFL coaching career including Wentz, Daunte Culpepper, JaMarcus Russell, Mark Sanchez, Josh McCown, Johnny Manziel, Derek Carr, and Nick Foles.
During his time as the offensive coordinator with Cleveland, DeFilippo ran a West Coast offense. It’s a very similar scheme to what Pat Shumur had Minnesota’s offense running last season, so it should not be too difficult for Vikings players to pick up DeFilippo’s playbook.
It will be interesting to see how Minnesota’s choice to be their offensive coordinator will impact who their quarterback in 2018. Sam Bradford is the only quarterback DeFilippo has worked with in the past and the Vikings bringing him back for next season does not seem too likely.
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The one downside of this hiring is that if their offense in 2018 can resemble anything like the one they had last season, then Minnesota may lose this offensive coordinator to a head coaching job too.