Tall McVay, Long May He Reign
This comes on the heels of the news that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh will be staying with the Wolverines after partaking in an all-day formal interview for the Vikings' job on Wednesday. Harbaugh wasn't offered the Vikings job, according to a source.
O’Connell, 36, can’t officially accept the job until after Super Bowl LVI, but the expectation is that he will be announced as head coach shortly after the Rams-Bengals matchup wraps up next weekend. O’Connell would replace Mike Zimmer, who the Vikings fired shortly after the 2021 regular season ended after the team missed the postseason the past two seasons,
O’Connell has served as Los Angeles’ offensive coordinator for the past two seasons. He spent the previous three seasons with Washington where he steadily moved up the chain from quarterbacks coach (2017) to QB coach/passing game coordinator (2018) and offensive coordinator (2019). He spent time coaching current Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins as his position coach in 2017.
He also spent time in the NFL for a few years after being the Patriots’ 2008 third-round pick. But he only played in two games his rookie season despite bouncing around until 2012.
Zimmer, 65, spent eight seasons in Minnesota compiling a 72-56-1 record, with a 2-3 postseason mark. Zimmer guided the Vikings to two NFC North titles (2015, 2017) and three trips to the postseason. But Minnesota has only made one trip to the playoffs since the Vikings signed Cousins to a fully guaranteed contract in 2018.
One of O'Connell’s primary tasks will center on helping the team improve defensively, as Minnesota finished 30th in total defense in 2021 and 27th in 2020.
This will also make O'Connell the fourth current NFL head coach stemming from the coaching tree of the Rams' Sean McVay: O'Connell, the Bengals' Zac Taylor, the Chargers' Brandon Staley, the Packers' Matt LaFleur.
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
What happened with Harbaugh?Graff: The Vikings made it clear with Harbaugh that he was coming to town for a true formal interview like any other candidate, not one arriving as a formality with an offer already on the table. By Wednesday evening, people on the Vikings’ search committee still had reservations about hiring Harbaugh, according to a source, and the team decided that O’Connell better aligns with their stated goal of seeking continuity and collaboration.
What will O’Connell bring to the Vikings?Graff: He’s a complete change of pace for an organization that is doing a 180 from the previous regime. O’Connell, 36, is an upbeat, innovative coach to replace Zimmer, the 65-year-old intense defensive guru who held the position the last eight years. He’ll probably bring an under-center, play-action-based scheme to the Vikings, which works well with what Cousins does.
@"JustinTime18™" said: Callahan at a couple stops jumps out.Yes, can we bring in Bill Callahan as OL / AHC??? That would be a bigger win than Munchak in my mind. Callahan OL's are consistently good and I believe he could do wonders with Darrisaw, ONeil, Cleveland.
Grab a vet center (Karras?) like the Niners got when they grabbed Mack, and develop a RG with what we have or a 3rd-5th round pick.
@"Skodin" said:@"JustinTime18™" said: Callahan at a couple stops jumps out. Yes, can we bring in Bill Callahan as OL / AHC??? That would be a bigger win than Munchak in my mind. Callahan OL's are consistently good and I believe he could do wonders with Darrisaw, ONeil, Cleveland.Grab a vet center (Karras?) like the Niners got when they grabbed Mack, and develop a RG with what we have or a 3rd-5th round pick.
Either of those guys would be great. Munchak more likely imo as he's unencumbered.
@"JustinTime18™" said: I'm thinking guys like Fast Kene, ISM, and ISJ will really flourish under O'Connell.Now, do we get to see the real Wyatt Davis?
Depends on if his photo is still distorted.
@"mgobluevikes" said: That McVay coaching tree is more than a bit skewed when they just happened to fall into situations that include Burrow, Rodgers, Herbert and healthy cap situations. O'Connell is probably going to be looking for a bridge QB, and figuring out how to rework a defense with overpaid, injured or aging players. Gonna be interesting around here if/when we're at 5-7 wins next yr.Mike Sherman and Marvin Lewis had similar QB situations too. How about Stafford in Detroit?
@"JustinTime18™" said:
@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?
@"PurpleCrush" said:@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?
That was my first thought. Not positive, but the Rams aren't carrying one.
@"PurpleCrush" said:@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?
.....& not likely to make a hard pursuit to resign Conklin.
@"JustinTime18™" said:@"PurpleCrush" said:@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?
That was my first thought. Not positive, but the Rams aren't carrying one.
That'd be a shame. Ham is a useful ball player, even if it's a smaller sample size. Maybe the salary will be the determining factor..
@"Knucklehead" said:@"PurpleCrush" said:@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?
.....& not likely to make a hard pursuit to resign Conklin.Conklin probably priced himself out of our range with his play this year. It would suck to lose him, especially with Irv coming off injury, but he earned himself a nice lil payday.
@"PurpleCrush" said:@"Knucklehead" said:@"PurpleCrush" said:@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?Conklin probably priced himself out of our range with his play this year. It would suck to lose him, especially with Irv coming off injury, but he earned himself a nice lil payday.
593 reception yards and 3 TDs have 'priced himself out of our range'?? IMO, he's just a guy and easily replaced. I don't get the Conklin love on the board, he's just a dude.
@"StickyBun" said:@"PurpleCrush" said:@"Knucklehead" said:@"PurpleCrush" said:@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?Conklin probably priced himself out of our range with his play this year. It would suck to lose him, especially with Irv coming off injury, but he earned himself a nice lil payday.
593 reception yards and 3 TDs have 'priced himself out of our range'?? IMO, he's just a guy and easily replaced. I don't get the Conklin love on the board, he's just a dude.I wouldn't say he's just a guy. He played pretty well for us considering he was the only TE of value on the roster. Made a few big catches over the season. But with our cap situation and Irv coming back it only makes sense to move on.
Loaded TE class. Several options with a 3rd or shit we blew a 4th on a useless TE in the draft. Kolar or Fergie would be great adds.
@"PurpleCrush" said:@"StickyBun" said:@"PurpleCrush" said:@"Knucklehead" said:@"PurpleCrush" said:@"JustinTime18™" said:
So, no use for a Hammer?Conklin probably priced himself out of our range with his play this year. It would suck to lose him, especially with Irv coming off injury, but he earned himself a nice lil payday.
593 reception yards and 3 TDs have 'priced himself out of our range'?? IMO, he's just a guy and easily replaced. I don't get the Conklin love on the board, he's just a dude.I wouldn't say he's just a guy. He played pretty well for us considering he was the only TE of value on the roster. Made a few big catches over the season. But with our cap situation and Irv coming back it only makes sense to move on.
ISJ is untested, and was really only starting to emerge before his injury,, and after a year off I would be hard pressed to pencil him in as TE1 without a viable TE2 in place. IMO Conklin would be a big keep given the way teams have chosen to play JJ and AT when they are both healthy.That and TE is one of the positions that rarely makes a big impact their rookie seasons so even though there are a bunch of good TEs coming out in the draft, IMO we need to have one that is ready now and that would be Conklin....so I think he needs to be kept as long as the price doesn't get stupid, he isn't a top 15 type guy for his position IMO.
New #Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell (unofficial) on his Offense Philosophy
— Matt Anderson (@MattAnderson_8) February 4, 2022
"If you build it the right way offensively, the QB can be in a system where his job is just to distribute"
Talks also about the importance of establishing the LOS and run game to make life easier for the QB pic.twitter.com/VINgMlj1sY
@"JustinTime18™" said: https://twitter.com/i/status/1489434633968275456Uhm, yeah, nothing earth shattering here, but since that's the same goal of every offense, and so many fail at it...show me the fucking baby already.
@"mgobluevikes" said: That McVay coaching tree is more than a bit skewed when they just happened to fall into situations that include Burrow, Rodgers, Herbert and healthy cap situations. O'Connell is probably going to be looking for a bridge QB, and figuring out how to rework a defense with overpaid, injured or aging players. Gonna be interesting around here if/when we're at 5-7 wins next yr.You're spot on; McVay and his tree have been blessed with some awful good QB'ing.
That said, the founding father got it pretty much done with Goff, at least at first. When the ceiling became obvious with Goff, they did something about it.
Now I dont like much on how the Rams are currently put together (cap wise and draft pick wise), but I do like how they said we gotta get better at QB and made a move to do it. That took Kahuna's
My hope is that KC re-negotiates and becomes a bridge for a few years. And this new brain-trust figures out the QB of tomorrow far better than RS ever could.
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