As an NFL assistant coach for 17 seasons, Adam Zimmer was the son of former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, who passed away on Monday at age 38.
Mike’s daughter and Adam’s sister Corri Zimmer White made the announcement official on Tuesday morning on Instagram.
While playing with the Bengals, Adam Zimmer called Minnesota home. According to Police Chief Wayne Wegener Jr., around 1:13 p.m. CT on Monday, the Mendota Heights Police Department received a call requesting a welfare check.
When police arrived to Zimmer’s house, they discovered that he was already dead inside. Deputy Chief Wegener has stated that his department is “not considering this as a suspicious death.”
The Hennepin County medical examiner is responsible for making the formal identification and determining the cause of death.
In 2014, after Zimmer’s father was appointed as head coach for the Vikings, the younger Zimmer followed in his footsteps and joined the coaching staff. He coached the team’s linebackers for six years before being elevated to the position of co-defensive coordinator in 2020. After the 2021 season, he and his father, as well as the rest of the coaching staff, were let go.
The Vikings’ ownership announced in a statement, “We are sorry to learn of the loss of Adam Zimmer.” “Adam was a kind guy who treated everyone he worked with, from players to coaches to the front office personnel of the Minnesota Vikings, with the utmost respect. The Zimmer family, Mike, Corri, and Marki, are in our prayers.”
Rick Spielman, a former general manager for the Vikings, also released a statement “Please know that Coach Zimmer and his family are in my prayers. Adam was an excellent mentor and a beautiful human being. The world will lose a great man.”
Kirk Cousins, quarterback for the Vikings, expressed his “deep sadness” at the news on social media and called Adam Zimmer a “tremendous coach & guy.”
Zimmer got his start in teaching in 2006 as an assistant linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints. While with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2010 through 2012, he worked in a similar capacity. In 2013, during Mike Zimmer’s final season as defensive coordinator in Cincinnati, he moved to Minnesota with his father, who was an assistant defensive backs coach there.
Before leaving to join the Vikings, Adam Zimmer worked as an offensive analyst with the Bengals.
“In the past 15 years, we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know and work with the Zimmer family. Our hearts break for Mike and Adam, two people in whom we have the deepest respect “Mike Brown, president of the Bengals, issued the following statement.
“For us, Mike and Adam weren’t simply instructors; they were friends. The Zimmer family is in everyone’s prayers at this time.”
The Saints said in a statement, “We cherished wonderful recollections of Adam from the four years he served with our organization. “Adam was an intelligent, diligent worker who was loved and respected by everybody who met him. While playing with the Saints, he rapidly improved as a coach.”
Zimmer White mentioned the tragic loss of her mother, Vikki Zimmer, in 2009 in an Instagram post.
“After their mother passed away, “my brother and I grew quite close,” she recalled. He was the first person to come up to help out at any of my foundation’s functions, and he was always willing to do so.”
