Todd Downing (born July 22, 1980) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He has previously served as offensive coordinator for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

and the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

. He also previously served as an assistant coach for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

and

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Playing career

Downing played quarterback for the Minnesota Maulers, a semi-pro football team from 2000 to 2002. Todd played Quarterback and defensive back while helping the Maulers to 3 consecutive championship games.

Coaching career

Early career

Downing received his first coaching job, and was an assistant coach for

Eden Prairie High School Eden Prairie High School (EPHS) (formerly Eden Prairie Senior High School) is a four-year public high school in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States established in 1923. The present high school opened in 1981 and was significantly added to in ...

as a 9th grade B team offensive coach. While coaching his high school, the Eagles won the Class 5A state title in 2000 over

Matt Birk Matthew Robert Birk (born July 23, 1976) is a former American football center who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He spent most of his professional career playing for the Minnesota Vikings. He was the Republican nom ...

's Cretin Durham Hall Raiders.

Minnesota Vikings

After being offered an internship in 2001 by Chad Ostlund in Research and Development for the

, he was a Public Relations intern for 2002, a football systems analyst from 2003–04, and offensive quality control coach in 2005.

St. Louis Rams

In 2006, Downing was hired by the then

to be a defensive assistant and special teams assistant coach. He would keep this job for two seasons. In 2008, Downing would become the Rams defensive quality control coach.

Detroit Lions

In 2009, Downing went to the

with

Scott Linehan Scott Thomas Linehan (born September 17, 1963) is an American football coach who currently works as an offensive analyst for Missouri. He was most recently the passing game coordinator for LSU. He was previously the head coach of the St. Louis ...

as an offensive quality control coach. He was the assistant quarterback coach in 2010 and was promoted to the quarterbacks coach role from 2011–2013. While he was coaching quarterbacks in Detroit,

Matthew Stafford John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, where he was a first-team All-American, and was selected f ...

averaged 4,885 yards, thirty touchdowns, and seventeen interceptions from 2011–2013.

Buffalo Bills

In 2014, Downing was the

' quarterback coach.

Oakland Raiders

In 2015, Downing was hired by the

as their quarterbacks coach under head coach

Jack Del Rio Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. (born April 4, 1963) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a linebacker at the University of South ...

. He is credited for helping

Derek Carr Derek Dallas Carr (born March 28, 1991) is an American football quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Fresno State, where he twice received first-team All- MWC honors, and wa ...

become the first Raiders quarterback to be selected to a Pro Bowl since 2002. On January 20, 2015, Downing was named by

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

as Quarterbacks Coach of the Year. After coaching Raiders quarterbacks for two years, he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2017, after the Raiders decided not to renew

Bill Musgrave William Scott Musgrave (born November 11, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the senior offensive assistant for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He is also a former quarterback, offensive coor ...

's contract. When he coached Carr from 2015–2016, he threw for 7,924 yards, sixty touchdowns, and nineteen interceptions with two Pro Bowl appearances. Downing was fired on January 1, 2018, along with head coach

and the rest of Del Rio's staff after dropping from 12–4 to 6–10 due to a major regression of the offense.

Minnesota Vikings (second stint)

On February 19, 2018, Downing was hired by the

as a senior offensive assistant. Following the sudden passing of Vikings offensive line coach

Tony Sparano Anthony Joseph Sparano III (October 7, 1961 – July 22, 2018) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and is the only NFL head coach to have l ...

prior to training camp in 2018, tight ends coach

Clancy Barone Clarence Barone (born July 26, 1963) is an American football coach who is the tight ends coach for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos ...

was shifted to coach the offensive line, alongside Sparano's assistant offensive line coach, Andrew Janocko. Downing was moved from senior offensive assistant to tight ends coach to fill the vacant position. Todd Downing 2021 09-19

Tennessee Titans

On January 26, 2019, Downing was hired by the

as their tight ends coach under head coach

Mike Vrabel Michael George Vrabel (; born August 14, 1975) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the head coach of the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State, where he earned con ...

. On January 29, 2021, Downing was promoted to offensive coordinator, replacing Arthur Smith, who departed to become the head coach of the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. On January 9, 2023, the Titans head coach

announced Downing had been fired.

Personal life

Downing grew up in

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...

. He is married to Julie, and has a son Jackson. He was involved in a DUI when driving back from a game during the 2022 season.

References

External links

Tennessee Titans profile

Oakland Raiders profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downing, Todd 1980 births Living people Buffalo Bills coaches Detroit Lions coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches National Football League offensive coordinators Oakland Raiders coaches St. Louis Rams coaches Tennessee Titans coaches High school football coaches in Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni People from Eden Prairie, Minnesota