New defensive coordinator Ed Donatell could bring big change to Vikings schemes

Though Kevin O'Connell can't officially be hired as the Vikings' next head coach until after the Super Bowl on Sunday, the team will have his defensive coordinator in place when he starts next week.

The team is hiring Ed Donatell as its next defensive coordinator, a league source told the Star Tribune on Thursday. Donatell, who had spent the past three seasons as Vic Fangio's defensive coordinator in Denver, had agreed to a job as a senior defensive assistant with the Seahawks until the Vikings showed interest in hiring him to run their defense.

The news about Donatell comes on the same day former Vikings co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson accepted a job as the Giants' defensive line coach, a source said. Patterson had wanted to stay in Minnesota, but as it became apparent the Vikings were heading in a different direction, he picked the Giants over an offer from the Seahawks.

Donatell, who turned 65 this month, will be a defensive coordinator for the fourth time in his career, having worked for the Packers and Falcons in the early 2000s before spending the past two years with Fangio.

The Vikings had also reportedly talked with Lions defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant, former Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai and Ravens defensive line coach Anthony Weaver about the defensive coordinator job.

Donatell's lengthy NFL career has largely focused on coaching defensive backs. He was the secondary coach with San Francisco from 2011 to 2014 under Jim Harbaugh, overlapping with both Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell there. Donatell also coached defensive backs with the Bears from 2015 to 2018.

He was on the Denver Broncos staff that won back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1997 and '98 seasons, and then became the defensive coordinator of the Packers from 2000 to 2003, followed by a three-year stint in the same role with the Falcons.

His schemes have long employed two-deep safety looks, and he figures to bring similar concepts to Minnesota at a time when teams across the league are shifting back to using two safeties in place of the single-high safety looks that the Seahawks popularized in the early 2010s.

In front of those defensive shells, Donatell could shift the Vikings to a 3-4 defense, after 16 years in a 4-3 base scheme under Mike Zimmer, Leslie Frazier and Brad Childress. Though Donatell coordinated a 4-3 scheme with the Packers and Falcons, the Broncos played a 3-4 with Donatell and Fangio. If the Vikings make such a shift, it could change their evaluation of pass rushers like Danielle Hunter and D.J. Wonnum. They could be well-positioned for a shift to a three-man front with defensive tackles like Michael Pierce and Dalvin Tomlinson, though the Vikings will have salary cap decisions to make with a number of players on their roster.

Wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell is expected to stay on O'Connell's staff in 2022, according to a league source. Both Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen had campaigned for McCardell to stay for a second season in Minnesota, and O'Connell will add him to his first coaching staff.

The Vikings could also keep coaches like senior defensive assistant Paul Guenther and bring in another veteran in an offensive advisory role as O'Connell looks for experienced voices to play a role not unlike the one Gary Kubiak played for Kevin Stefanski in his first year calling plays. Younger coaches like assistant wide receivers coach Christian Jones, assistant defensive line coach Imarjaye Albury and assistant linebackers coach Sam Siefkes might also have chances to stay.