HEADLINES

Marcel Shipp

NFC Coaching Notes: McVay, Vikings, Eagles

January 16th, 2017 at 3:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

Sean McVay becoming the first 30-year-old ever hired to coach an NFL team will come with the expected responsibility of calling plays. The new Rams coach will take on that task presumably since he made himself an attractive candidate by doing so in Washington.

“There is not a chance I would let anyone call the plays, at least at first,” McVay told Peter King of TheMMQB.com. “It’s something I really want to do and feel comfortable doing.”

King described the Redskins’ setup as McVay calling the plays but Jay Gruden having final say over the game plan. In Los Angeles, McVay will take on both responsibilities for an offense coming off a season during which it averaged just 262.7 yards per game — more than 40 fewer than every other team. The McVay-led Washington attack finished third at 403.4 per game.

Here’s more from the NFC coaching circuit.

  • The Vikings hired UCLA offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu as their running backs coach, Alex Marvez of the Sporting News tweets. The 53-year-old uncle of Troy Polamalu, Kennedy served as OC for both USC and UCLA during this decade but previously worked as an NFL running backs instructor. He coached the Browns’ and Jaguars’ backs from 2004-09. Minnesota also interviewed running backs coaches Marcel Shipp and Skip Peete for this position, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). Caplan adds previous Vikings RBs coach Kevin Stefanski will likely transition to another coaching position with the team next season. A Vikings coach since 2006, Stefanski served as the team’s tight ends coach during the 2013 and ’14 seasons.
  • Former Rams wide receivers coach Mike Groh is expected to interview with the Eagles to coach their wideouts, Tim McManus of ESPN.com reports. The 45-year-old Groh also served as Los Angeles’ passing-game coordinator. The son of former Jets coach Al Groh, Mike Groh spent the previous three seasons instructing the Bears’ wide receivers.
  • Former 49ers special teams coach Derius Swinton is expected to log another interview this week, doing so with the Saints. After meeting with the Broncos, Swinton will likely meet with the Saints this week, Nick Underhill of The Advocate reports. Just 31, Swinton served as an assistant special teams coach for the Rams, Chiefs, Broncos and Bears from 2009-15 prior to taking over San Francisco’s specialty units.

Jets OC Chan Gailey Retires

January 3rd, 2017 at 12:33pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jets announced that offensive coordinator Chan Gailey has retired. The Jets also announced that five coaches will not return: quarterbacks coach Kevin Patullo, running backs coach Marcel Shipp, defensive line coach Pepper Johnson, outside linebackers coach Mark Collins, and defensive backs coach Joe Danna. Defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers, apparently, will be retained. Chan Gailey (vertical)

“I’m grateful to Chan for joining our coaching staff and enjoyed working with him,” coach Todd Bowles said in the statement. “The respect that I have for him as a person and a coach only increased during our time together.”

It seems possible that Gailey would have been forced out even if he did not retire this offseason. The soon-t0-be 65-year-old oversaw an offense that had the second-worst offensive DVOA in the NFL this year. However, in 2015, Gailey’s offense that amassed a franchise-record 5,925 yards and scored 387 points, the most in a Jets season since 1998. There was lots of frustration over Gailey’s play-calling this year, but the team’s shortcomings under center probably played a bigger role.

The Jets are expected to target Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and former Chargers coach Mike McCoy as OC options, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com and Albert Breer of The MMQB (Twitter links).

Jets Notes: Revis, Quinn, Bowles, Idzik

January 27th, 2015 at 7:21pm CST by Zachary Links

On Tuesday at media day, Darrelle Revis was asked it must be like for a Jets fan to watch him play on game’s biggest stage after making a name for himself for his first six seasons in New York. Revis didn’t have much in the way of consolation for fans of Gang Green. “€œIt’€™s not really my fault,” Revis said, according to Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com. “I didn’€™t make the call. Management made the call at that time and they felt it was best to get rid of me. So that’€™s the situation. That’€™s how I look at it.” More on the Jets..

  • The Jets were heavily interested in Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn for their head coaching vacancy, but they were never completely convinced that they were No. 1 on his wish list, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News writes. Meanwhile, Todd Bowles clicked with new GM Mike Maccagnan and owner Woody Johnson felt comfortable with the former Cardinals defensive coordinator.
  • Seahawks GM John Schneider doesn’t think that John Idzik got a fair shake in New York. “I felt bad for him. I think that, it’s just my personal opinion that you should be able to hire a head coach,” the Seattle GM said, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post (on Twitter).
  • Veteran tight ends coach Jimmie Johnson told some coaching colleagues that he’s joining the Jets staff to coach their tight ends, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
  • Three offensive position coaches have been named to Bowles’ coaching staff according to an announcement on Tuesday — Steve Marshall as offensive line coach, Kevin Patullo as quarterbacks coach, and Marcel Shipp as running backs coach.