Ryan Cordell enters his 11th season in the NFL and third season with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024, after spending three years (2019-21) with the Cleveland Browns working as a coaching assistant.
In his second year in Minnesota in 2023, Cordell helped navigate a season with four different starting quarterbacks, the most in franchise history, due to a season-ending injury to QB Kirk Cousins in Week 8. In addition to Cousins, Cordell prepared for matchups that featured rookie Jaren Hall, Joshua Dobbs and Nick Mullens. He also contributed to the Vikings finishing the season fifth in the league in passing yards per game (256.4).
In 2022, Cordell served as the Vikings game management coordinator and played a key role in helping the team become "situational masters." Minnesota finished the regular season with an 11-0 record in one score games after finishing 5-8 in those same situations the previous season.
With the Cleveland Browns in 2021, Cordell served as interim running backs coach for the final 10 games of the season. He helped the Browns lead the NFL in rushing average with a 5.09 mark, the highest average by a Browns team since 1966. RB Nick Chubb finished second in the league in rushing yards en route to a Pro Bowl selection and being named a finalist for the FedEx NFL Ground Player of the Year. Cordell also served as the running backs coach for the East team in the 2022 East-West Shrine Bowl.Â
Cordell worked closely with the offensive line during his first season on the Browns coaching staff, helping the club finish third in the league in rushing with an average of 148.4 yards per game (the team's best since 1978). He also helped tackle Jack Conklin earn Associated Press First-Team All-Pro honors and guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller earn Second-Team honors. Bitonio was also selected to the Pro Bowl, while first round pick T Jedrick Wills Jr. was voted the NFL Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week for Week 10, becoming just the fourth offensive lineman to win the award since its inception in 2002 and first since 2013.
Cordell spent five seasons (2014-18) with the San Francisco 49ers, serving as special assistant to the general manager during his final two seasons. While with the 49ers, Cordell worked with Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Head Coach Kevin O'Connell and Running Backs/Run Game Coordinator Curtis Modkins.Â
In 2016, Cordell was the team's football operations coordinator, assisting with internal projects across all football departments. He served as an offensive assistant on the 49ers coaching staff in 2015, breaking down film for the offense, running the scout team, assisting all offensive coaches and assisting in the coaching of the running back position. Cordell originally joined the 49ers in 2014 as a salary cap intern, assisting with various roster composition and salary allocation research.
He graduated from Notre Dame with a bachelor's in mathematics and a master's in business administration.
