MINNEAPOLIS — John DeFilippo stood on top of a double-decker bus with the rest of the Eagles, as they cruised through raucous downtown Philadelphia on Thursday to celebrate the franchise’s first championship in 57 years.
Hours later, the Minnesota Vikings handed him the keys to their offense.
DeFilippo has had quite the ride in two seasons as quarterbacks coach for the Eagles.
“How many guys can say they participated in a Super Bowl parade in the morning and became one of 32 play-callers in the National Football League that night? That’s a pretty good deal,” DeFilippo said. “It was a whirlwind, but it was a whirlwind that was 100 percent worth it, professionally and personally.”
The Vikings finalized their hire of DeFilippo as offensive coordinator on Friday, following Pat Shurmur’s departure to become head coach of the New York Giants. The 39-year-old DeFilippo is the third offensive coordinator Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has had in five seasons on the job.
“He has a track record of success and has proven to be a great teacher. We feel John will have good chemistry with our team, and we are all eager to get to work,” Zimmer said in a statement.
Just five days earlier, the Eagles beat New England 41-33 in the Super Bowl in Minnesota behind an MVP performance by Nick Foles . With guidance from DeFilippo, offensive coordinator Frank Reich and head coach Doug Pederson, Foles found a rhythm in the playoffs after an initially rocky takeover for the injured Carson Wentz. In those three games, including a 38-7 victory over the Vikings in the NFC championship game, Foles threw for 971 yards, six touchdowns and only one interception for a 115.7 passer rating. Against the Patriots, Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns and even caught a pass for a score on a trick play.
“We really sat down and spent some time with Nick and what he felt comfortable doing, and to me, that’s coaching,” DeFilippo said. “Why would you ask a player to do something that he’s not comfortable with?”
He’ll apply that same approach to the Vikings.
“If they did something really, really well and their players are good at it, there’s no reason to change it,” DeFilippo said. “So we’re going to take pieces from other places I’ve been, take pieces from Philadelphia and at the same time, obviously there are a lot of good things that the Minnesota Vikings did last year that we’re going to continue to do.”
Now he’ll work with Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman to sort out the quarterback situation, with contracts for Case Keenum, Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater all currently scheduled to expire next month.
“I’m going to have as much say as they want me to. I’m a team player,” DeFilippo said on a conference call with reporters. “We talked about it last night: It has to be a collaborative effort, something that we all agree on.”
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