Minnesota Vikings former offensive line coach Chris Kuper is already finding success with the Philadelphia Eagles, quickly earning the trust of his veteran linemen after replacing the legendary Jeff Stoutland. Sometimes things just run their course, and a coach and team are no longer a match. It was clear, complete with some fairly recent and not-so-veiled criticism from a former pupil who has found success elsewhere, that Kuper's time in Minnesota was over after four seasons.
It's also fair to say Kuper "failed" upward, landing with the Eagles as their new offensive line coach. A tie to new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who spent time with the Vikings when he was still a player in 2023, and Kuper was on staff, surely helped him get that new job quickly.
Of course, current Vikings offensive linemen are lauding the change in their coach, as Keith Carter appears to be a harsh contrast in coaching style compared to Kuper.
For a long time, the Vikings have generally failed to devote proper resources to the offensive line. That means offensive line coaches like Kuper have regularly had to try to turn Day 2 or Day 3 picks, or veterans who should be backups, into starting-caliber players, particularly on the interior.
Otherwise, sometimes players and a given coach just struggle to connect. Nobody is necessarily wrong, it just isn't a fit or the fit fades.
Chris Kuper may make the Minnesota Vikings regret replacing him
The Eagles, by any measure, have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. That also means those starters haven't played much, if at all, during the preseason. How the backups do in place of the established guys would either be an early win for Kuper in his new job or cause for concern among one of the more generally irascible fan bases in the league.
As noted by Anthony Miller of Inside the Iggles, Kuper has passed that early test with flying colors.
Through the first two preseason games, backup Eagles linemen Jake Majors, Micah Morris, Willie Lampkin, Markel Bell, and Drew Kendall have combined to allow one sack and one quarterback hurry over 139 combined pass protection snaps (both allowed by Morris).
Now, it is only preseason, with the requisite allowance for the level of competition the backups are going against. Some of the defensive linemen that the Eagles' young backup linemen have gone against won't even land on a practice squad somewhere.
That said, success in preseason games is far better than the alternative of being on the struggle bus. So Kuper is doing something right so far, perhaps simply as a fresh voice the Eagles' offensive line needed. He was simply no longer a fresh voice in Minnesota.
Time will ultimately tell how things work out for Kuper in Philadelphia, and for Minnesota's offensive line with him no longer coaching the unit. But he's off to as good a start as possible in his new gig, and regret could very well be the endgame for the Vikings.
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