Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Charlie Frye has earned his stripes as a football coach since retiring from the NFL in 2010. The former Browns quarterback has coached at the high school, collegiate, and NFL ranks over the last several years.
The last time we saw Frye on an NFL sideline was in 2021 with the Miami Dolphins, where he was their quarterbacks coach. After coaching with the Dolphins, Frye spent the next three years at Penn State and Florida Atlantic over the last three seasons.
Now the former Browns signal-caller is back in the NFL, but won’t be coaching on the offensive side of the ball. Last week, Frye was officially hired as a defensive assistant for the Minnesota Vikings.
#Vikings hired former #NFL quarterback Charlie Frye as defensive assistant
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 18, 2025
The 43-year-old is reuniting with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who was the head coach of the Dolphins in 2021. This will be a different challenge for him as he’s never coached defense before in his coaching career.
Over the last two years at FAU, Frye was the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Before landing at Florida Atlantic, he spent the 2022 season at Penn St. as their offensive and analytics coordinator.
Prior to joining Miami in 2021, Frye coached at Central Michigan (2019-20, offensive coordinator /QB coach), Ashland University (2018, WRs coach), Florida (2015-17, consultant/director of player personnel), and at the high school level at Wekiva HS (2014-15, OC) and Jones HS (2012-13, OC).
Even though Frye has been coaching a lot on offense, that experience could help him as a defensive assistant this coming season.
The former NFL quarterback played three seasons in Cleveland after being drafted in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft. In his three years with the Browns, Frye completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 14 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.