Derik Keyes enters his eighth season with the Vikings in 2024 and first as director of football development/assistant performance coach. Keyes has spent 16 years as a strength and conditioning coach and is starting his 13th year in the NFL.
Keyes started with the Vikings in 2017 as performance enhancement coach and helped the team earn the 2017 NFC North division title, after a 13-3 season, in which the team advanced to the NFC Championship game. He was also a part of the 2022 Vikings team that finished 13-4 and claimed another NFC North title. The Vikings have made three playoff appearances in the last six seasons (2017, 2019, 2022), since Keyes began his tenure with the club. He assists with all aspects of the weight training, speed training, and the return to play program. In addition to the player health and performance staff, Keyes works with the personnel and coaching departments to identify opportunities for improvement in football development programs.
Keyes held the same position with the Cleveland Browns from 2013-16. He was on staff with the Houston Texans in 2012, where the team went 12-4, winning the AFC south division under former head coach Gary Kubiak.
During the 2016 season in Cleveland, Keyes worked directly with wide receivers and defensive backs. He worked on one of the first high performance models in the NFL, which centers around performance enhancement and injury prevention.
While in Houston, Keyes assisted with all aspects of the weight training, speed training, and the return to play program under the 2012 NFL Strength Coach of the Year, Cedric Smith.
In 2011, Keyes returned to his alma mater, Louisiana-Lafayette, where he worked with football program and was the director of strength and conditioning for men's and women's track and field. That season, the Ragin' Cajuns won the New Orleans Bowl, their first official bowl appearance. Keyes also served as the director of freshman football development.
As a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at South Alabama in 2010, Keyes helped the Jaguars complete their second official season with an undefeated record (10–0). He also assisted the Jaguars' Olympic programs, developing workouts for the student-athletes. In 2009, Keyes started his coaching journey at Louisiana-Lafayette as a football strength and conditioning intern.
A four-year letterman at safety with the Ragin' Cajuns from 2004-08, Keyes earned Sun Belt All-Conference Honors and Sunbelt Player of the Week after recording 18 tackles in a game against Kansas State in 2008. Keyes served as team captain, team defensive MVP and earned the Hammer Award, given to the player who delivered the hardest hits of the season.
Keyes graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2008 from Louisiana-Lafayette and earned his master's degree from the University of California-Pennsylvania in performance enhancement and injury prevention. He is a certified performance enhancement specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Some of his other certifications include the following: PES, CES, and CPT, USAW Sports Performance Coach, NSCA Member, Certified Speed Specialist through the NASE – CSS, AED and CPR.
Keyes is originally from Laurel, Miss., and raised in Lafayette, La. He attended Lafayette High School where he was a four-year letterman in football and track and field. He also garnered all-district, all-academia, all-parish, and all-state honors. He was team captain and earned MVP for the Mighty Lions. Keyes was recently inducted into the Lafayette High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Keyes is the son of Brian Keyes and Barbara (Durr) Beardsley. He is married to Victoria, and they have a daughter, Nova.
