Report: Giants Denied Cowboys' Request To Interview Assistant Coach
On Tuesday, the Dallas Cowboys formally named Mike Zimmer as their new defensive coordinator. He will apparently miss out on the opportunity to reunite with a former colleague.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the New York Giants declined Dallas' request to meet defensive line coach Andre Patterson, who formerly worked with Zimmer's Minnesota Vikings.
Patterson has more than four decades of coaching experience, starting as a graduate assistant at Montana in 1982
Before joining the New England Patriots in 1997, he served as a defensive line coach at Weber State, Cornell, and Washington State, as well as head coach at Cal Poly.
He began his first job with the Vikings the following year before joining Dave Campo's Cowboys staff in 2000.
Patterson coached the defensive lines of those NFL clubs, as well as the Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos.
After seven years of high school and college, Patterson returned to Minnesota when Zimmer was hired as head coach of the Vikings in 2014
He originally resumed his role as defensive line coach, but was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2020 and associate head coach in 2021.