Door Closes on Vikings Coach Looking for a Promotion

Well, Vikings coach Daronte Jones may be sticking around Minnesota for a little while longer.

The Vikings’ Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs coach has had a few interviews, most recently with the Saints. New Orleans has opted to fill that position with someone else. The update arrives courtesy of The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport: “The #Saints are hiring former #Chargers coach Brandon Staley as the defensive coordinator for coach Kellen Moore, per The Insiders. Staley was an assistant this year with the #49ers, and before LAC, he burst onto the scene as a #Rams DC. Now, lands in NO.”

The Vikings Coach and The NFL Hiring Cycle

Keep in mind that the Bears and Jaguars also expressed interest in Jones by bringing him in for an interview.

Consider what was said about the assistant defensive coach when news of Chicago’s interest emerged (again, per Rapoport): “The #Bears requested to interview #Vikings passing game coordinator/DBs coach Daronte Jones for their defensive coordinator position, source said. Jones is highly respected having worked with defensive minds such as Brian Flores, Vance Joseph, and Marvin Lewis, among others.”

Over this past season, the Vikings’ defense took a noticeable step forward. Some of that improvement comes due to improved personnel and some comes from the good work from the coaches.

Consider, for instance, just some of the basic numbers when it comes to defending the pass. In 2023, the Vikings were the NFL’s worst-place team in terms of completion percentage. Collectively, quarterbacks completed a sizzling 70.3% of their passes against Minnesota. Fast forward into 2024 and that number dropped down to 65.1%, which is 15th (a considerable climb from being 32nd a year prior).

Jones deserves some credit.

Again, Jones had the benefit of working with new corners such as Stephon Gilmore and Shaq Griffin, but it’s notable that the team’s top corner — Byron Murphy Jr. — was someone who was already on the roster. Mr. Murphy had a career-best season under Jones’ tutelage.

Janik Eckardt offered these details about Daronte Jones’ coaching career: “He worked through the college ranks for one-and-a-half decades and got his first job in the NFL as the assistant defensive backs coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2016. His next steps were to coach the cornerbacks for the Bengals and to coach the defensive backs with the Vikings under Mike Zimmer in 2020.”

“After only one year with the Vikings,” Eckardt continues, “he then took LSU’s defensive coordinator position in 2021 but he was not retained by incoming head coach Brian Kelly in the following campaign and subsequently returned to Minnesota under the new regime, becoming Kevin O’Connell’s DB coach in 2022. He survived the defensive coordinator change from Ed Donatell to Flores.”

If Brian Flores had landed a head coaching job, Jones would have been a strong candidate to become Minnesota’s new defensive coordinator. That possibility is something to keep in mind for the future.

As it stands, Grant Udinski is the only Vikings coach to have been snagged by another team.

K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.