Coach O’Connell Brings in Super Bowl Winning Staff
After a 12-5 regular season record, the Los Angeles Rams entered the postseason as the fourth see, consequently taking down Arizona, Tampa Bay, San Francisco, and finally a 23-20 Super Bowl victory over Cincinnati. Despite the lack of first-round draft picks and $-13,172,364 in cap space, the future in Los Angeles is auspicious. Yet, newly acquired head coach Kevin O’Connell will take his talents to Minnesota.
Coach Kevin O’ Connell departed from a Super Bowl-winning team with stars like Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp still in Los Angeles to become the 10th head coach in franchise history. A few members of the Rams coaching staff came with him to the North Star frozen tundra.
Minnesota’s new Quarterbacks coach is Rams former Offensive Assistant, Chris O’Hara and the Offensive Coordinator position will begin interviews between Chargers receivers coach Chris Beatty, Rams tight ends coach, Wes Phillips, and Rams running back coach/assistant head coach, Thomas Brown. Interviews are set for Brown on Friday, February 18th and Beatty on Saturday.
If this doesn’t scream leadership and trust in Coach O’Connell to have these staff members follow him to snake bitten Minnesota, I don’t know what does.
Coach O’Connell’s Current Coaching Staff:
- HC- Kevin O’Connell(Rams Offensive Coordinator)
- Assistant HC- Mike Pettine-(Bears Sr Defensive Advisor)
- OC- Options are Wes Phillips(Rams Tight Ends Coach) Thomas Brown(Rams Running Backs Coach/ Asst Head Coach)
- QB coach- Chris O’Hara(Rams Offensive Assistant)
- Assistant QB coach-Jerrod Johnson(Colts Offensive Quality Control Coach)
- RB/RGC- Curtis Modkins-(Broncos Running Backs Coach)
- WR-Keenan McCardell-(Vikings Wide Receiver Coach)
- TE-Brian Angelichio- (Panthers Tight Ends Coach)
- OL- Chris Kuper-(Broncos Assistant Offensive Line Coach)
- Asst OL- Justin Rascati-(Broncos Offensive Quality Control Coach)
- DC- Ed Donatell-(Broncos Defensive Coordinator)
- DL- Chris Rumph-(Bears Defensive Line Coach)
- LB- VACANT
- DB- VACANT
- STC- VACANT
Defensive Adjustments
There is also an abundance of former Broncos coaches, especially with Minnesota’s newest defensive coordinator, Ed Donatell. Coach Donatell started his NFL career with the New York Jets in 1990 and has jumped around organizations since. His most significant accomplishments came in the 1997 and 1998 seasons where he accompanied two rings with the Denver Broncos as their secondary coach.
His recent history has also been with Denver where he was their defensive coordinator from 2019-2021. During that tenure, Denver’s defense gave up 18.9 points per game. That’s the third-best in the league only behind Buffalo and New England. To compare to Minnesota, the Vikings gave up an average of 25.1 points per game. Another change we will be seeing is the change from a base 4-3(consists of 4 defensive linemen and three linebackers) to a 3-4.
Possible free agent, Anthony Barr was name-dropped by Coach O’Connell along with Kendricks and Smith as “difference makers”. This defense has the talent to be something great. Maybe change is the only thing halting their potential.
Vikings Territory Also Read: Vikings Should Call Old Friend for Stretch Run
You must be logged in to post a comment.