Vikings Make a Hire to Address “Key Void”

Earlier in the offseason, the Vikings lost Grant Udinski to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The open slot on the coaching staff has now been filled.

Consider the update from The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport: “The #Vikings are hiring #Saints offensive assistant Jordan Traylor as their new assistant OC and assistant QBs coach, sources say, taking the place of Grant Udinski. Traylor, just 31, fills a key void, as Udinski left to be the #Jaguars OC.”

Vikings Hire a New Coach

Ben Goessling of The Star Tribune confirmed the news while adding a bit more context.

“Source confirmed the #Vikings are hiring former Saints offensive assistant Jordan Traylor to replace Grant Udinski,” Goessling writes, “as their assistant offensive coordinator/assistant QB coach. Udinski left to become the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator; Traylor had been with the Saints for six years, the last two as an offensive assistant after working on defense and the scouting staff.”

Traylor’s background is a bit reminiscent of Brian Flores. Minnesota’s current DC spent a lot of time with the Patriots, putting in work as a scout, on offense, and then on defense. Not too many coaches have that diversity of experiences, but it’s presumably a helpful part of gaining a fuller understanding of the game.

The other notable details that jump out with Traylor are his age — he’s 31 — and where he has worked — the past half dozen seasons in New Orleans.

Recently, the Saints have been descending, going 5-12 in 2024. Go back six seasons and Traylor will have had the chance to work under Sean Payton while surviving the transition over to Dennis Allen. The Saints were excellent in 2019 and 2020, going 13-3 and then 12-4. Notably, New Orleans lost to Minnesota after that strong 2019 season.

In terms of players, Traylor will have had the chance to work alongside some excellent ones. Drew Brees, Cameron Jordan, Alvin Kamara, and Marshon Lattimore (among several others) stand out.

As the assistant OC and assistant QB coach, Jordan Traylor will work directly under OC Wes Phillips and QB coach Josh McCown. Maybe the best thing Traylor can do is to push J.J. McCarthy’s game further. After all, Mr. McCarthy is being leaned on to become Minnesota’s new franchise passer.

In all likelihood, the coaching staff is basically complete in the Twin Cities. There was a chance that there could have been more departures — the NFL expressed interest in Flores, McCown, and Daronte Jones — but Udinski is the only one to have been hired away.

NFL free agency gets going in less than a week. With a full coaching staff, Minnesota will be looking to push their roster to the next level.

Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.

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.