Judd Zulgad and Mark Craig‘s excellent piece in the Strib yesterday about Minnesota Vikings new head coach Brad Childress‘ personnel moves (the firing of most of Tice’s staff) leads with indications that
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive backs coach Mike Tomlin is Childress’ choice for his defensive coordinator.
(Sid Hartman has some quotes by former Viking coach and current Tampa Bay Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin on Mike Tomlin in his column today.)
Buried in-the-third to last graph, however, is the logical conclusion that Tomlin’s hiring probably means the Vikings will adopt the popular Tampa 2 defense that, as the article says, "if employed with the right personnel, eliminates big plays because the
safeties split the field deep, linebackers patrol the middle and the
pass rush is applied by the front four."
If that’s the case, we will probably need a speedier and more adept tackler to play strong safety. That probably means bye-bye for Corey Chavous.
We’ll probably also need a faster middle linebacker with better coverage skills. That could mean the emergence, again, of E.J. Henderson as our middle linebacker, and, therefore, allowing Sam Cowart to leave via free agency. Or it could mean we will agressively pursue a free agent middle linebacker more suited to the Tampa 2 defense.