The Miami Dolphins hired San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel to be their head coach on Sunday evening, only four days after Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell was reported to be the next head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Interestingly enough, both O’Connell and McDaniel are making the jump from being offensive coordinators who don’t call plays to becoming head coaches in the NFL. However, both coaches were assistants working under two of the best offensive play-callers in the game today — Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.
O’Connell and McDaniel are so appealing to other franchises because they come from this particular Shanahan/McVay coaching tree. McDaniel worked under Shanahan, McVay, and Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur during their time together in Washington from 2011-13. However, O’Connell is a new branch on this highly sought-after coaching tree. The next head coach of the Vikings linked up with McVay for the first time before the 2020 season.
Circling back on the Shanahan/McVay coaching tree. It’s tough to argue against what this NFL power circle has accomplished in a short amount of time. Since 2016, the Shanahan/McVay coaching tree has been responsible for:
- One Super Bowl champion (to be crowned on Sunday)
- Five Super Bowl appearances (two from Shanahan, two from McVay, and one from Zac Taylor)
- Eight Conference Championship Game appearances (three from Shanahan, two from McVay, two from LaFleur, and one from Taylor)
And while folks are quick to point out that LaFleur inherited a team in Green Bay led by Aaron Rodgers, it’s important to remember that these accolades also include teams that were quarterbacked by:
- Matt Ryan (2016)
- Jared Goff (2018)
- Jimmy Garoppolo (2019 & 2021)
- Joe Burrow (2021)
- Matthew Stafford (2021)
Not exactly a who’s who of household signal-callers.
When you consider that O’Connell and McDaniel are different flavors of the NFL’s most successful coaching tree in recent memory, it’s fair to ask: Did the Vikings decide to hire the right Shanahan/McVay understudy?
Let’s start by taking a look at McDaniel. The newly christened Dolphins head coach spent his 15-year NFL career working under Mike and/or Kyle Shanahan. With stops in Denver, Houston, Washington, Cleveland, Atlanta, and San Francisco, McDaniel was alongside Kyle every step of the way since 2006 — except for a brief stint with the Sacramento Mountain Lions from 2009-10.
McDaniel spent the ’13 and ’14 seasons as the wide receivers coach for Washington and the Cleveland Browns but quickly shifted his focus to overseeing the running game once the San Francisco 49ers hired Kyle as the head coach in 2017. McDaniel has been credited with being the brains behind Kyle Shanahan’s innovative run game concepts.
And while McDaniel’s next-level wizardry in the run game can’t be disputed, would Justin Jefferson and the Vikings be the best fit for the Yale graduate to implement his run-centric scheme? With Jaylen Waddle cut from a similar cloth as San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel, McDaniel should be right at home with finding innovative ways to manufacture touches for his new dynamic receiver — whether it be downfield, in the screen game, or out of the backfield.
Enter, Kevin O’Connell.
Before landing with McVay and the Rams, O’Connell spent three years in Washington, including the 2017 season with Kirk Cousins and one season with San Francisco and Cleveland.
O’Connell has spent his NFL coaching career as part of offenses that relied heavily on their wide receivers. Since 2017, O’Connell’s offenses have utilized 11-personnel (one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers) at the following rates:
- ’17 (Washington): 59% (10th highest)
- ’18 (Washington): 71% (7th highest)
- ’19 (Washington): 70% (6th highest)
- ’20 (Los Angeles Rams): 65% (13th highest)
- ’21 (Los Angeles Rams): 85% (highest in the NFL)
After the Vikings and Mike Zimmer stuck Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, and Jefferson in an archaic offense that was dominated by the running game, O’Connell’s background in these receiver-centric systems will be a sight for sore eyes of Skoldiers who still hold on to fond memories of Randy Moss and Cris Carter.
Most recently, O’Connell played a vital role in Cooper Kupp achieving one of the most successful seasons for a wide receiver in NFL history. Kupp led the league in receptions (145), yards (1,947), and touchdowns (16) this year. And with Robert Woods, Odell Beckham Jr, and Van Jefferson, life was made a heck of a lot easier for Kupp when other dynamic threats surrounded him.
Not to take anything away from Kupp, but I think we can all agree that Justin Jefferson is the far more talented receiver. And if O’Connell knows how to turn Kupp into the most statistically impressive receiver of the 2021 season, then the sky is truly the limit for Jefferson in this offense.
With Adam Thielen playing the 1b role — like Woods or Beckham this year for the Rams — Jefferson has the capability to reach new heights in Year 3. Jefferson had this to say at the NFL Pro Bowl over the weekend when asked about the O’Connell hire.
When comparing O’Connell and McDaniel, it’s apparent that Minnesota’s offensive firepower with Jefferson, Thielen, Dalvin Cook, Kirk Cousins, and Irv Smith Jr. made more immediate sense for O’Connell’s passing concepts. And not to take anything away from McDaniel, but his run-game prowess isn’t exactly the best fit for a team that currently has the only wide receiver in NFL history to record over 3,000 receiving yards after his first two seasons.
And with the way the Rams have prioritized the wide receiver position over the past two offseasons — spending second-round picks on Van Jefferson and Tutu Atwell in consecutive drafts — Skoldiers shouldn’t be surprised if this new regime led by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell spends serious draft capital on WR for the 2022 season. Jameson Williams or Garrett Wilson at the 12th-overall pick could provide O’Connell with the quintessential 11-personnel for his debut season in Minnesota.
Pull your Three Deep posters out, Skoldiers, because O’Connell is going to recreate the magical offensive firepower that we saw with Moss, Carter, and Jake Reed by slinging the pill across the yard.
