The senior defensive assistant
It is doubtful that Dom Capers would have accepted a position with the Vikings if he was not going to have a huge say in how things are done on the defensive side of the ball.
Minnesota’s new senior defensive assistant has already been dubbed an “ideas guy” by head coach Mike Zimmer and he has experience with different schemes that could give the team’s defense the injection it has been craving.
There is not much that Capers has not seen during his coaching career and this can be passed on to both Adam Zimmer and Andre Patterson during their time together this year. The move from a defensive assistant to a coordinator can be a daunting one and having Capers to lean on should only mean good things going forward.
A move like this does come with its dangers though. Most notably, the possibility of Capers perhaps undermining the defensive coordinator duo and Mike Zimmer favoring his opinion due to his time in the game.
This could add an element of friction and the right balance will need to be found. Minnesota worked a similar situation to their advantage last season when Gary Kubiak was added to the staff to work with offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski and it resulted in tremendous success.
The Vikings offense’s improvement last season even ended with Stefanski landing a head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns this year.
If Capers can have a similar sort of impact on the defensive side of the ball, then there is no telling how far Minnesota can go in 2020.