Vikings Add 2 New Defensive Coaches
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Vikings have added two coaches on the defensive side of the ball.
The team announced Thursday Karl Scott has been hired as defensive backs coach and Paul Guenther is joining as senior defensive assistant.
Scott replaces Daronte Jones, who was hired as the defensive coordinator for Louisiana State University this offseason. Scott was the defensive backs coach for the University of Alabama for the past three seasons. He coached 2020 second-round pick Trevon Diggs (brother of former Viking Stefon Diggs). In the 2021 National Championship, the Alabama defense held likely future first-round pick Justin Fields of Ohio State University to a 52% completion percentage, less than 200 yards through the air and only one passing touchdown.
Guenther was most recently the Las Vegas Raiders' defensive coordinator and has 18 years of NFL coaching experience. He and Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer coached together on the Cincinnati Bengals staff from 2008-2013. Last season, the Raiders allowed the third-most points in the league (478), just behind the Vikings (475).
These are the latest moves in an offseason filled with turnover for the Vikings' coaching staff. They head into next season with new offensive (Klint Kubiak, son of former Vikings OC Gary Kubiak and previously the team's quarterbacks coach) and special teams (Ryan Ficken) coordinators. They also hired a new wide receivers coach (Keenan McCardell) and moved former WR coach Andrew Janocko to quarterbacks coach.
