Adam Zimmer, an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and the son of longtime Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, has died at 38 years old.
Zimmer had a long career as an NFL assistant coach with stops in New Orleans, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and Minnesota before he returned to Cincinnati over the summer. Zimmer’s sister Cori announced his death on Instagram on Tuesday morning.
“I can’t believe I’m writing this. I lost my big brother yesterday,” Cori Zimmer wrote. “The kindest, sweetest, family loving, sports obsessed soul there ever was. I’ve felt pain like this once before but it’s been a while and I didn’t know I was able to feel like this again. My heart is shattered and it hurts so bad.”
Tributes to Zimmer poured in from across the NFL on Tuesday in the hours following Cori Zimmer’s post.
“We are heartbroken to hear about the passing of Adam Zimmer,” the Vikings said in a statement. “Adam was a kind, respectful man, and over his years in Minnesota, it was evident he cared tremendously about his family, his players, his fellow coaches and the Vikings front office staff. Our thoughts are with Mike, Corri, Marki and the entire Zimmer family.”
Zimmer was working this year as an offensive analyst in Cincinnati. He had previously been primarily as a defensive coach, working with linebackers and defensive backs and serving as the Vikings’ co-defensive coordinator under his dad’s leadership.
“Our organization has had the privilege of knowing and working with the Zimmer family for 15 years,” Bengals president Mike Brown said in a statement. “We have the highest regard for Mike and Adam, and we are incredibly saddened by this tragic news. Mike and Adam were more than just coaches for us -- they were friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Zimmer family at this time.”
Zimmer’s cause of death was not immediately known on Tuesday. Zimmer was born in Ogden, Utah, but grew up in Texas as his dad pursued his coaching career with the Dallas Cowboys. He attended Trinity University in San Antonio, a well-regarded liberal arts school, where he played football.
Throughout the football world and beyond, Zimmer was heralded as a kind and supportive coach and family man.
“His support and love for me was SO big and I hope he knew how much I loved him,” Cori Zimmer wrote. “In the last year he told me countless times how he loved watching me be a mom and how proud he was of me.”
