Curtis Modkins is in his third season with the Minnesota Vikings as running backs/run game coordinator and 29th year coaching in 2024. Before joining the Vikings in 2022, he served as the running backs coach for the Denver Broncos for four seasons (2018-21).
In his second season with the Vikings in 2023, Modkins helped RB Alexander Mattison reach career highs in games started (13), rushing attempts (180), rushing yards (700) and receiving touchdowns (three). He also oversaw the development of second-year back Ty Chandler, who appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings, making four starts, and was a weapon on both offense and special teams. Chandler became just the fifth running back in the past five seasons (2019-23) to log at least 130 rushing yards and a touchdown during the first start of a player's NFL career with his performance at Cincinnati in Week 15. He also executed two successful fake punts in 2023, including a 31-yard run on the fake punt in the fourth quarter in Week 11 at the Denver Broncos - the fourth-longest fake punt in Vikings history.
Under Modkins' direction in 2022, the running back unit recorded 18 rushing touchdowns, tied for the seventh-most that season. RB Dalvin Cook tallied his fourth season with at least 1,000 yards rushing, which tied Robert Smith for the second most in Vikings history and trails only Adrian Peterson (seven) for the most. Cook finished the 2022 season with the fourth-most rushing yards (1,173) in the NFL and sixth-most carries (264). His career-long 81-yard touchdown run was the second-longest in 2022. Cook tallied the third-most rushing yards (5,993) in franchise history. He was also named to his fourth-consecutive Pro Bowl. Mattison tallied a career-high five rushing touchdowns in 2022.
Modkins has been with seven previous teams since his start in the NFL in 2008, primarily serving as a running backs coach, but has offensive coordinator experience with the Buffalo Bills (2010-12) and San Francisco 49ers (2016), the same 49ers staff that Minnesota Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Head Coach Kevin O'Connell worked on 2016. Modkins has worked with two Pro Bowlers, RB Phillip Lindsay (2018) and RB C.J. Spiller (2012), and four 1,000-yard rushers, Lindsay (Denver, 2018-19), RB Jordan Howard (Chicago, 2017), Reggie Bush (Lions, 2013) and Spiller (Bills, 2012).
During the 2021 season, Modkins helped guide RB Melvin Gordon III (918) and rookie RB Javonte Williams (903) to 900-plus-yard seasons, becoming the first running back duo since Houston Texans RBs Arian Foster (1,224) and Ben Tate (942) in 2011 to accomplish this feat. Additionally, Gordon III and Williams both scored two touchdowns against Detroit in Week 14, becoming just the third running back duo in Broncos history to post two touchdowns in the same game, the first since RBs Gene Mingo and Al Frazier against the Oakland Raiders in 1962. Williams, a 2021 PFWA All-Rookie Team member, posted 1,129 scrimmage yards in 2021, becoming just the seventh rookie in team history to finish the season with at least 1,000 scrimmage yards.
Led by Gordon III and Lindsay, the Broncos nearly rushed for 2,000 yards in 2020, while Gordon's 4.59 rushing average ranked fourth in the AFC. Under Modkins, Lindsay rushed for 1,011 yards in 2019 and 1,037 in 2018, making him the first undrafted player in NFL history to top the 1,000-yard mark in consecutive seasons to start their career. In 2019, Lindsay became the first undrafted offensive player to record consectuive 1,000-yard rushing seasons. In 2018, he also became the first undrafted offensive player to reach the pro bowl.
Before helping Howard to 1,122 rushing season with the Bears in 2017, Modkins was an offensive coordinator for the 49ers (2016), helping RB Carlos Hyde to 988 rushing yards on the year. Hyde also finished averaging 76.0 rushing yards per game, which is a career high. Modkins helped QB Colin Kaepernick to a 90.7 passer rating in his 11 starts, highlighted by throwing 16 touchdowns to only four interceptions in 2016.
As run game coordinator/running backs coach for the Detroit Lions in 2013-15, Modkins oversaw the production of Bush and RB Joique Bell, helping the two to become the first backfield in NFL history to each register 500 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in the same season in 2013. In his final season in Detroit, Modkins guided rookie RB Ameer Abdullah to a career-best 597 rushing yards.
While working as the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator (2010-12), Modkins directed a unit in which QB Ryan Fitzpatrick topped 3,000 passing yards each season and WR Steve Johnson reached the 1,000-yard mark in each campaign. With Spiller earning his first Pro Bowl selection in 2012 after running for 1,244 yards, the Bills featured a 3,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver for the first time in 10 seasons.
Modkins began his NFL coaching career with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008 and then moved to the Arizona Cardinals in 2009 before becoming the Bills offensive coordinator.
Modkins spent 13 years working at the collegiate level before making his way to the NFL, spending time as the running backs coach (2003-07) and defensive backs coach (2002) with Georgia Tech, cornerbacks coach with New Mexico (1998-2001) and tight ends coach (1997) and secondary coach with TCU.
A native of Marlin, Texas, Modkins played football at TCU (1989-92) and finished his career with the third-most rushing yards in school history (2,763).
