5 Ed Donatell replacements Vikings need to reach their ceiling

The Vikings fired defensive coordinator Ed Donatell to the delight of many fans. Now Minnesota needs to hire a replacement, perhaps from these candidates.

Despite the Minnesota Vikings‘ record throughout the regular season, fans were at their wits’ end with defensive coordinator Ed Donatell in his first season with the organization. That truly came to a head, however, in the team’s playoff loss to the New York Giants in the Wild Card Round when the defense gave up 31 points to Daniel Jones and Co.

That all led to Friday when the Vikings and head coach Kevin O’Connell made the decision to part ways with Donatell.

Now that he’s out, the team will be looking for a replacement. Minnesota is flooded with offensive talent, including one of the game’s premier receivers in Justin Jefferson, 2022 newcomer via trade T.J. Hockenson, Dalvin Cook and even Kirk Cousins (though that can be a divisive topic). For this team to reach its potential, though, they have to find the right defensive coordinator replacement and all five of these coaches would fit the bill.

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Vikings rumors: 5 Ed Donatell replacements Minnesota needs to call

Jim Leonhard has long been ready for the NFL and the Vikings could make it so

For years, there have been rumblings about longtime Wisconsin Badgers defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard making his way to the NFL. However, those never amounted to a move. This offseason might be the best timing for such a move that has ever existed, though.

When Paul Cryst was fired by the Badgers midseason, it was Leonhard who was asked to step into the interim role. After doing so, there were many voices around the Wisconsin program who thought he should have the interim removed from his title. Instead, the program hired Luke Fickell from Cincinnati and Leonhard, after some debate, was not retained.

Leonhard, at only 40 years old, has been a phenomenal defensive mind who is also well-adept with NFL language and concepts in relation to his college coaching experience due to his near-decade spent in the league as a player.

With him currently having no ties to a college program, the timing is perfect for Leonhard to finally make the jump to the NFL. The only question for the Vikings would be if they would want to take a slight gamble on someone with no NFL experience as a DC, which is a worthwhile question to ask for a unit that needs to be fixed.