Report: Minnesota Vikings deny Giants of Kevin Stefanski interview
By Adam Carlson
The Minnesota Vikings have reportedly blocked the New York Giants from interviewing quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski to be their offensive coordinator.
The Minnesota Vikings had some excellent options when it came to hiring a new offensive coordinator after losing Pat Shurmur to the New York Giants when he accepted a role as their new head coach.
One of the individuals considered for the position was quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski, who has been with the Vikings organization since 2006 and worked his way from being an assistant to the head coach to being a positional coach.
However, Minnesota decided not to make Stefanski their offensive coordinator and instead hired outside the organization by choosing former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback coach John DeFilippo for the position.
Stefanski is still the team’s quarterbacks coach since he is under contract by the Vikings, so any outside interviews would need to be approved by the team’s front office if another franchise wanted to hire him for another position.
The New York Giants showed interest in bringing in Kevin Stefanski to be their new offensive coordinator, but Minnesota has reportedly denied an interview that would put him working as a member of Pat Shurmur’s staff.
Here is a tweet from well-respected NFL insider Adam Schefter stating that a league source has informed him of the denial by the Vikings:
Vikings denied permission for Giants to interview and hire their QB coach Kevin Stefanski as their OC, per league source. Stefanski stays in Minnesota, Giants still need an OC.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 10, 2018
There were many worries that the Vikings would lose offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski, and defensive coordinator George Edwards from their coaching staff after the 2017 NFL season, but they only ended up losing Shurmur.
Unless something changes before the start of the 2018 season, Minnesota will have kept most of their staff under Mike Zimmer intact. However, it has yet to be seen how John DeFilippo will perform as the new offensive coordinator for the Vikings.
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Even though a change from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator is considered a lateral move on a coaching staff by some, Kevin Stefanski will eventually get his chance as an offensive coordinator even if it doesn’t happen this offseason.