REPORT: Vikings find their new special teams coach

According to a report on Monday, former Miami Dolphins assistant Marwan Maalouf will become the new special teams coach for the Minnesota Vikings.

For the first time since 2011, the Minnesota Vikings will have someone new in charge of their special teams next season after Mike Priefer recently opted to take a job with the Cleveland Browns.

Since his departure, there haven’t really been a ton of rumblings about who the Vikings might choose to replace Priefer as their special teams coach for 2019. But on Monday, a report indicates that Minnesota has already found their guy for the vacancy on their staff.

According to SiriusXM’s Alex Marvez, the Vikings have hired Marwan Maalouf to lead their special teams next season. Maalouf has spent the last six years as the assistant special teams coach for the Miami Dolphins.

He has been an assistant in the NFL since 2004 when he was hired to be the special teams quality control coach for the Cleveland Browns. Maalouf then spent time on the coaching staffs of the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts before landing with the Dolphins in 2013.

In Miami, he worked under special teams coach Darren Rizzi, who is regarded by some as one of the best in the NFL when it comes to coaching special teams.

Under the guidance of Rizzi and Maalouf, Dolphins kickers made 90.7 percent of their field goal attempts during the last two seasons. Compare that to Minnesota, whose kickers have only converted 77.1 percent of their field goal tries during the same time period.

So hopefully, that conversion rate can see a nice improvement with Maalouf now in charge of the Vikings’ special teams. If he can find a way to do this, he might just become the new best friend of Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer.