Vikings Hiring Ex-Broncos DC Ed Donatell as Their New Defensive Coordinator

Kevin O'Connell has his defensive coordinator, and it's a guy with a ton of coaching experience.

The Vikings are hiring Ed Donatell to be their new defensive coordinator on head coach Kevin O'Connell's staff, according to the Star Tribune's Ben Goessling. It was reported on Wednesday that Donatell had emerged as the favorite for the job.

Less than a week ago, Donatell was reportedly heading to the Seahawks to join their defensive staff, but now he's coming to Minnesota to be a defensive coordinator for the fourth time in his career. He beat out several much younger candidates for the Vikings job in Aubrey Pleasant, Anthony Weaver, and Sean Desai.

This is a strong hire for O'Connell and the Vikings. Donatell has been coaching for over four decades, spending all but two of the last 32 years as a defensive backs coach or DC in the NFL. The 65-year-old's incredible bank of experience will be a good resource and balance for the 36-year-old O'Connell, who is the second-youngest head coach in the league.

Donatell has spent the past 11 seasons as Vic Fangio's top lieutenant with the 49ers, Bears, and Broncos. He'll bring the Fangio defensive scheme — which has been highly successful — with him to Minnesota. That means the Vikings will almost certainly switch to a 3-4 defense for the first time in a long time, and it'll be fascinating to see what that means for their roster decisions this offseason.

After coaching at various colleges in the 1980s, Donatell was a DBs coach for the Jets and Broncos in the '90s. He got his first coordinator job with the Packers (2000-03), then was the DC for the Falcons (2004-06). After a second stint as the DBs coach in Denver, he linked up with Fangio. Donatell was the DBs coach in San Francisco and Chicago when Fangio was the DC, and was the Broncos' DC for the past three years with Fangio at head coach.

Donatell is an outstanding defensive coach with a ton of experience working with different schemes, coaches, and players. Things will look different on that side of the ball under Donatell than they did under Mike Zimmer, and we'll see if the change in scheme and leadership are successful.

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