Inside The Vikings

Vikings make key hire with new assistant offensive line coach Keith Carter

Carter has been an OL coach in the NFL for the last seven seasons.

Will Ragatz

Feb 4, 2022; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Tennessee Titans offensive line coach Keith Carter during AFC practice at the Las Vegas Ballpark.
Feb 4, 2022; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Tennessee Titans offensive line coach Keith Carter during AFC practice at the Las Vegas Ballpark. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The Vikings have made a big, important addition to Kevin O'Connell's coaching staff. They're hiring former Titans and Jets OL coach Keith Carter as their assistant offensive line coach, the team announced on Tuesday.

Carter will work closely with Vikings OL coach Chris Kuper and the rest of the team's offensive staff. He spent the last two seasons as the OL coach and run game coordinator for the Jets, which hints at the role the Vikings hope he can play in helping revive Minnesota's struggling run game. Before that, Carter was the Titans' OL coach for five seasons under Mike Vrabel. He also spent a year as the Falcons' running backs coach in 2017.

Carter replaces Shaun Sarrett, who was hired as the Jaguars' OL coach under Liam Coen and former Vikings assistant Grant Udinski, who is now the offensive coordinator in Jacksonville.

It's worth noting that Carter, who was dismissed by new Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, has a reputation for being hard on his players in New York and Tennessee — and not necessarily being liked by all of them. O'Connell acknowledged that when speaking to reporters in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

"You'll find some things about him in regards to being tough on his players," he said, via ESPN's Kevin Seifert. "But I think in the No. 2 role, he's gonna be really good for us."

Since the O'Connell era began in 2022, the Vikings are 30th in EPA per rush over the combined three-year span. They were 29th in O'Connell's first year, when Dalvin Cook was still the lead back. They were 25th in 2023, when it was largely Alexander Mattison (though Ty Chandler and Josh Dobbs may have helped those numbers). And although they improved last year with Aaron Jones leading the backfield, they were still just 22nd in that department. To use a more basic statistic, their 4.04 yards per carry since 2022 ranks 29th in the NFL.

Efficiency and explosiveness in the run game is something O'Connell and the Vikings are still chasing as they head into year four. Personnel additions on the offensive line and at running back will be a part of that pursuit this offseason, but the hire of Carter could also have a real impact. He'll be working with a unit that has two excellent offensive tackles in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill, but has plenty of question marks when it comes to the interior trio.

Carter, 42, is a Pennsylvania native who attended UCLA. He worked his way up the college ranks and got his first NFL job as an offensive quality control coach for the Seahawks in 2012.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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