On Thursday February 8th the Vikings hired former Bengals defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier to be the architect of their new scheme on the defensive side of the ball. Frazier was hired to replace Mike Tomlin who left the Vikings to become the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Frazier has been a coach in the NFL since 1999 when he was a part of Andy Reid’s staff with the Philadelphia Eagles as a secondary coach. Frazier left the Eagles in 2003 to work along side Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. Mr. Frazier was fired after two seasons due to low overall league rankings and a philosophical struggle with Lewis during his tenure. One of the high points however of Frazier’s term Frazier was the fact that the Bengals were third in the league in takeaways for the 2003-2004 season, a stat that has declined extensively for the Bengals since Frazier’s firing.
Leslie would rebound however in 2005 when he was offered and accepted a job on the Colts staff back in familiar territory as the Colts secondary coach. Frazier would improve the Colts pass defense from a less then stellar showing of 19th in 2005 to a very impressive 2nd in the entire NFL. This marked improvement was a major key in the Colts success in their recent Super Bowl winning season. Frazier himself played in the NFL for eight seasons, playing all of them for the Chicago Bears as a cornerback. Frazier in fact was a part of the 1986 Bears Super Bowl championship team. Frazier’s playing career would come to an early end to a knee injury that he suffered during that very Super Bowl. The experience that Frazier brings to the table simply isn’t just limited to the professional game. The college game is another field in which Frazier is use to as well, having been a head coach at Division II Trinity College in Illinois for nine seasons. Frazier would then move on to the University of Illinois as their defensive backs coach for three seasons before landing the job with Reid and the Eagles.
Frazier takes over a defense from Mike Tomlin that was top in the league this past season in run defense, but finished dead last in pass defense which brings logic to the hire of Frazier given his background. With Brad Childress, the Vikings head coach also having been on Andy Reid’s staff with Leslie Frazier in Philadelphia it seems to be a great fit for Frazier to come to the Vikings. Expect Frazier to run a similar system defensively as his predecessor being that they are both disciples of the “Tampa 2” defense having both worked for former Buccaneers and current Colts head coach Tony Dungy. Leslie was born in 1959 in Columbus, Missouri and attended college at Alcorn State from 1977-1980 before being selected by the Chicago Bears in the 1981 NFL Draft.
In conclusion, football is nothing more than a game of wits that requires a tremendous amount of energy and agility in order to come up in this game where you have to willingly put everything on the line without a second thought. Be it Fraser or Tomlin, none have had it easy and have reached this position through sheer hard work. For budding footballers, the football index sign up offer is a good place to register for learning it in detail.
