Dom Capers' Experience Helping Vikings Young DBs

[Viktor]

In fact, that's why Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer added Capers to his staff this offseason, as it was a chance to bring an esteemed voice to the staff.


"I just felt like he's seen a lot of different things as far as defenses throughout the league, a new voice in the room to give some new ideas," Zimmer said. "Really, that was it. I thought it worked really well with Gary [Kubiak on the offensive side] the year prior.


"And so, I was kind of looking for just some ideas," Zimmer added. "Once you've been doing it for six years here and 20-some years somewhere else, it's just nice to hear the way other defenses do things.''


Capers, too, jumped at the chance to work with Zimmer, who much like himself, is known around the league as an innovator with defensive schemes.


"I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for Mike. I've followed his defenses, you know, from Dallas to Cincinnati and then, of course, watching what he's done with the defense here since he's been with the Vikings," Capers said. "So, I enjoy that very much and have great respect in what he's been able to do here with the system, it's been tremendous over its tenure.


"I just enjoy being around those conversations and getting to know the smaller intricacies of what the Vikings have done," Capers added. "Hopefully somewhere in there I'll be able to add a little bit here or there, but Mike knows what he wants to do, and he's done it extremely well."


Hiring Kubiak, who coincidentally followed Capers as head coach in Houston in 2006, provided Zimmer a sounding board and players an incredible resource to lean on throughout the season.


That's certainly been the case so far in training camp, as Zimmer has tasked Capers with helping develop a young Vikings secondary. Of the 15 players currently in that group, 11 have two or fewer years of NFL experience.