The Minnesota Vikings may be bringing defensive coordinator Brian Flores back to the sidelines in 2026, but one of his top lieutenants is moving on to a promotion with a team that the Vikings will face this coming season.
Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that Vikings’ defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator Daronte Jones is leaving Minnesota to take the defensive coordinator job with the Washington Commanders.
The Commanders are one of five teams that Jones interviewed with this offseason, as he also fielded calls from the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and New York Jets. Jones was thought to be the top potential in-house replacement for Flores had he moved on to a head coaching job somewhere else, but with Flores inking an extension with Minnesota late last week, the door was open for Jones to take a promotion elsewhere.
Jones first came to the Vikings in 2020 when Mike Zimmer was still the head coach, serving as the defensive backs coach. He then went to Louisiana State as the defensive coordinator in 2021 but returned to Minnesota in 2022 after the hiring of Kevin O’Connell, again serving as the defensive backs coach and adding the defensive passing game coordinator title in 2023.
We’ll be keeping an eye on who the Vikings will be potentially adding to the staff to replace Jones and any other coaches they might lose as this offseason rolls on. This looks to be a pretty significant loss for the defensive coaching staff, but I’m guessing that Brian Flores already has at least a couple of potential replacements in mind for the position.
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