MINNEAPOLIS – Two weeks after Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak announced his retirement, the team is replacing the veteran player with his son Klint, several league sources confirmed to ESPN.
Klint Kubiak, 33, will assume the position that his father held in the 2020 season. The NFL Network was the first to report the promotion of young Kubiak to offensive coordinator after training Minnesota defenders for the past two years.
The Minnesota offensive team is set for next season with Andrew Janocko, who trained wide receivers last season, and is expected to become the team’s quarterback coach, while Keenan McCardell, who trained wide receivers in Jacksonville from 2017 to 2020, will maintain the same position with the Vikings, according to league sources.
Klint Kubiak’s long-awaited promotion to offensive coordinator supports Mike Zimmer’s wishes to preserve continuity in the attack after the Vikings finished 7-9 and failed to make the playoffs. Zimmer said he felt the Minnesota attack was the most explosive he has had in seven seasons with the Vikings and pointed out that he wanted to maintain the same philosophy in the future.
“I love the scheme we are playing in the attack, I love the wide zone attack, I love the game and action passes,” said Zimmer in January. “All of those things. A coach once told me that his attack must be what his quarterback does best. And that’s what I feel, Kirk [Cousins] is the best at. That kind of thing is what makes it really good. So, for me, this is very important. “
In a season with Gary Kubiak as Minnesota’s offensive coordinator, the Vikings finished fourth in the total attack and 11th in goals, with defender Kirk Cousins recovering from 10 interceptions in his first six games and ending with 35 touchdowns, the record of your career. Running back Dalvin Cook earned MVP consideration while racing for a record 1,557 career yards and scoring 17 touchdowns in total, while Justin Jefferson broke the record for receiving and receiving yards as a rookie and is the second of all the times with 1,400 yards received in a season of beginners.
The 2021 season will be Klint Kubiak’s first as an offensive coordinator in the NFL. Before joining his father, offensive line coach / running game coordinator Rick Dennison and tight end trainer Brian Pariani in Minnesota in 2019, young Kubiak was an offensive assistant and defender coach in Denver from 2016 to 2018. He never called for plays at college or professional level.
Near the completion of their team for the 2021 season, the Vikings promoted Ryan Ficken to special team coordinator last week. Ficken was previously an assistant coach for Minnesota special teams from 2013 to 2020.