Coaching Matters: 2021 Minnesota Vikings Coaching Staff Preview

Eli Grabanski previews the 2021 Minnesota Vikings' coaching staff in search of buy-lows, fantasy football sleepers, and risers based on play-calling and historical data.

After every NFL season, NFL teams take the time to evaluate not only the players but also the coaching staff and front office as well. While many teams choose to retain the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator, a few other teams opt to go in a new direction with their coaching staff.

Outside of Gary Kubiak retiring, the Minnesota Vikings will be bringing back many of their key coaching staff members from the 2020 season. Mike Zimmer will return as the Vikings head coach. Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer will be back as the team's co-defensive coordinators. Klint Kubiak will be the team's new offensive coordinator, replacing his father Gary Kubiak.

This article will look at the potential impact this coaching staff will have on the players and try to pinpoint the Vikings players' fantasy values in it.

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The Baseline

To get a better understanding of the value the Vikings coaches help bring to this team, we can look at the NFL league averages in each of the past two years in a variety of statistical categories and then compare them to the averages achieved by the Vikings' coaches. Here are 'The Baseline' NFL league averages over the past couple of years:

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Defense Impact

Previous Coaching Staff

In order to get an understanding of how the Vikings' fantasy players may be impacted this year, we also need to look at one of the key members of the Minnesota Vikings' previous coaching staff: Gary Kubiak. By doing this, we will have a better understanding of where the new regime is starting from and where the primary changes will occur.

Former Offensive Coordinator: Gary Kubiak

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

2021 Offense

2021 Offensive Coordinator: Klint Kubiak

Klint Kubiak is the son of former NFL coach Gary Kubiak. He's previously spent time as an offensive quality control assistant (2010-2011) and graduate assistant (2012) for Texas A&M, an offensive quality control coach of the Minnesota Vikings (2013-2014), a wide receivers coach for Kansas (2015), an offensive assistant for the Denver Broncos (2016-2018), and a quarterbacks coach (2019-2020) for the Minnesota Vikings.

Klint Kubiak Takeaways & Expectations

Klint Kubiak will be a first-time play-caller in 2021, so there's less information to go off of in figuring out how he may utilize the Minnesota Vikings offensive weapons. But while he's a different person, for the most part, we can expect him to utilize a lot of the same concepts his father and previous offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak did with the Vikings last year.

In addition, if Klint is similar to Gary Kubiak in how much he utilizes each position group, we can project that...

1. A below-average amount of passing work (attempts) and rushing attempts will go to Kirk Cousins. This would mean that Kirk will have to be more efficient to put up decent passing numbers.
2. An above-average number of rushing attempts will go to Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison, but they will receive a below-average number of opportunities (targets) through the air.
3. A slightly below-average number of targets going to the Vikings wide receivers. This is an area that could potentially change/improve with Klint Kubiak calling the plays due to the efficiency of Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen last year.
4. An average number of targets going to the Vikings tight ends. Irv Smith Jr. could still see an increase in workload with Kyle Rudolph gone.

Overall, Klint Kubiak will likely have some growing pains here and there but should end up being a solid offensive coordinator for the Vikings in 2021 as long as he follows his father's blueprint.

Fantasy Relevant Players: Kirk Cousins, Kellen Mond, Dalvin Cook, Alexander Mattison, Ameer Abdullah, Adam Thielen, Justin Jefferson, Chad Beebe, Bisi Johnson, Irv Smith Jr., and Tyler Conklin.

2021 Defense

2021 Head Coach: Mike Zimmer

Mike Zimmer has been the Minnesota Vikings head coach since 2014. Prior to being hired as the Minnesota Vikings head coach, Mike Zimmer served as a defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys (2000-2006), Atlanta Falcons (2007), and Cincinnati Bengals (2008-2013). Given his defensive background, let's take a look at some defensive statistics from Zimmer's time in a defensive coordinator or head coaching role.

2021 Co-Defensive Coordinator: Andre Patterson

Andre Patterson has been the Minnesota Vikings co-defensive coordinator since 2020 and has also served as the team's defensive line coach since 2014. Let's take a look at some of the Minnesota Vikings defensive statistics during Patterson's one year as the team's co-defensive coordinator.

2021 Co-Defensive Coordinator: Adam Zimmer

Adam Zimmer has been the Minnesota Vikings co-defensive coordinator since 2020 and has also served as the team's linebackers coach since 2014. Let's take a look at some of the Minnesota Vikings defensive statistics during Adam Zimmer's one year as the team's co-defensive coordinator.

The 2020 Minnesota Vikings were the worst defense that Mike Zimmer has ever fielded in his 21 seasons as either a defensive coordinator or head coach - giving up the most points per game, yards per play, and passing yards per game of any season in his career. It was clearly a rebuilding year for the Vikings' defense in 2020. While they still have a ways to go to becoming an upper-level defense in 2021, Mike Zimmer should be able to get the defense to around league-average levels based on his previous success directing defenses. Based on this information, the 2021 Vikings D/ST will probably be more of a streamer than a defense you roster all year in your fantasy leagues.

Other Notable Assistants

Special Teams Coordinator: Ryan Ficken - 2021 will be Ryan Ficken's first year as a special teams coordinator at the NFL level. He's spent his entire NFL coaching career with the Minnesota Vikings, previously working as the assistant running backs coach (2007-2008), assistant wide receivers coach (2009-2012), and assistant special teams coach (2013-2020).

QB Coach: Andrew Janocko - Andrew Janocko will be the Minnesota Vikings' new quarterbacks coach in 2021 after Klint Kubiak was promoted to offensive coordinator. He has been with the Vikings since 2015, previously serving as an offensive quality control (2015-2016), assistant offensive line coach (2017, 2019), co-offensive line coach (2018), and a wide receivers coach (2020) for the team.

RB Coach: Kennedy Polamalu - Kennedy Polamalu has been the Minnesota Vikings running backs coach since 2017. He has also been a running backs coach at the NFL level for the Cleveland Browns (2004) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2005-2009).

WR Coach: Keenan McCardell - Keenan McCardell will be new to the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff in 2021 and serve as the team's wide receivers coach. McCardell has previously served as a wide receivers coach for the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins (2010-2011), Maryland (2014-2015), and for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2017-2020). He also played wide receiver at the NFL level for the Washington Redskins (1991), Cleveland Browns (1992-1995), Jacksonville Jaguars (1996-2001), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002-2003), and San Diego Chargers (2004-2006).

TE Coach: Brian Pariani - Brian Pariani has been the Minnesota Vikings tight ends coach since 2019. At the NFL level, he's also been a tight ends coach for the Denver Broncos (1995-2004, 2015-2016), Houston Texans (2006-2013), and Baltimore Ravens (2014).

OL Coach: Rick Dennison - Rick Dennison has been the Minnesota Vikings run game coordinator & offensive line coach since 2019. He spent most of his NFL career with the Denver Broncos as a player (1982-1990), offensive assistant (1995-1996), special teams coordinator (1997-2000), offensive line coach (2001-2005, 2009), and as an offensive coordinator (2006-2008, 2015-2016). Dennison has also previously worked for the Houston Texans as an offensive coordinator (2010-2013), the Baltimore Ravens as a quarterbacks coach (2014), the Buffalo Bills as an offensive coordinator (2017), and the New York Jets as an offensive line coach (2018).

Author Edit (7/23/2021): Rick Dennison was dismissed as the Minnesota Vikings offensive line coach. It is likely that the new offensive line coach will be Phil Rauscher, who was the team's assistant offensive line coach prior to this news. Rauscher was the interim offensive line coach for 11 games with the Washington Football Team in 2019 after Jay Gruden was fired and OL coach Bill Callahan was promoted to head coach. Bill Callahan is probably the best offensive line coach in the league (O-line coach for the Browns now), so if Rauscher uses more from what he learned from Callahan there's a chance of offensive line improvement for the Vikings in 2021.

DL Coach: Andre Patterson - Andre Patterson has been the Minnesota Vikings defensive line coach since 2014. Besides spending the last seven seasons as the Vikings defensive line coach, he's also coached defensive lines at the NFL level for the New England Patriots (1997), Minnesota Vikings (1998-1999), Dallas Cowboys (2000-2002), Cleveland Browns (2003-2004), and Denver Broncos (2005-2006). He also serves as the team's assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator.

LB Coach: Adam Zimmer - Adam Zimmer has been the Minnesota Vikings linebackers coach since 2014. At the NFL level, he's previously been an assistant linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints (2006-2009) and Kansas City Chiefs (2010-2012) and served as an assistant defensive backs coach with the Cincinnati Bengals (2013). Zimmer also has been the co-defensive coordinator of the Vikings since 2020.

DB Coach: Karl Scott - Karl Scott is new to the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff in 2021. This will be his first coaching job at the NFL level after coaching at the collegiate level from 2007-2020. He most recently served as the cornerbacks' coach at Alabama (2019-2020).

Safeties Coach: Roy Anderson - In addition to his role as the assistant defensive backs coach, Roy Anderson will serve as the Minnesota Vikings safeties coach in 2021. He's also spent time coaching at the NFL level for the Baltimore Ravens (2005-2011), Indianapolis Colts (2012-2015), San Francisco 49ers (2016), and Chicago Bears (2017-2018).

Enjoy this series? Be sure to check out all of the other 'Coaching Matters' team previews!

AFC South: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans

AFC North: Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals

AFC West: Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos

AFC East: New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills

NFC South: Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons

NFC North: Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears

Follow Eli Grabanski on Twitter: @3li_handles

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