Former Vikings 1st Round Pick Joins Cowboys Coaching Staff
Dustin Baker
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The Dallas Cowboys are 4-11 (.267) in the postseason in the last 25 years, and that sits well with exactly zero folks in the front office. Annually, the club tries to effectuate the “this is our year” mantra, and 2023 will be no different.
And when they fire up the 2023 campaign, a familiar Minnesota Vikings face will be in the saddle of the team’s coaching staff — former defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd.
Former Vikings 1st Round Pick Joins Cowboys Coaching Staff
ESPN’s Field Yates tweeted Thursday, “The Cowboys have hired Sharrif Floyd, a 2013 first round pick of the Vikings, as their assistant DL/defensive quality control coach, per Todd Archer and me. Floyd played DT at Florida for Dan Quinn and spent time working with the Cowboys staff this past training camp.”
Floyd last made major headlines in 2018 when he sued Dr. James Andrews and alleged, “those administering that pain blocker affected the procedure, paralyzing a nerve and the surrounding muscle and creating a situation from which he could not recover sufficiently to play football.”
The Vikings selected Floyd with the 23rd overall pick — yes, the same number they have in this year’s draft — in the 2013 NFL Draft. He was supposed to be the next big thing, but the ill-fated surgery ensured otherwise. Floyd played 44 career games (all with the Vikings), logged 95 total tackles, 22 QB hits, 9.5 sacks — and then that was it. His final career NFL snap occurred in 2016.
Floyd was last employed by the Cowboys through the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship in the summer. So, his elevation to assistant defensive line coach and quality control coach is somewhat of an internal move. The 31-year-old also played defensive tackle at the University of Florida for Dan Quinn, the team’s current defensive coordinator. And those “ties” are of the utmost importance in sports, especially in coaching ranks.
Interestingly, Floyd represents the last time the Vikings invested notable draft capital in the defensive line’s interior. Minnesota notoriously doesn’t spend draft picks on Floyd’s spot and instead inserts players like Shamar Stephen, Armon Watts, and Jonathan Bullard. Floyd was the last time Minnesota swung for the fences via finding a potentially game-altering interior DL. Perhaps those days will return.
Floyd waltzes into a fancy Cowboys defensive program, too. Dallas ranked second in the NFL per defensive DVOA, trailing only the San Francisco 49ers in 2022. Led by linebacker Micah Parsons, who inexplicably didn’t receive any 2022 Defensive Player of the Year attention, the Cowboys defense transformed from a terrible defensive group in 2020 to an upper-tier unit in 2021 and 2022. Unsurprisingly, when one follows the clues, Quinn took over in 2021, so couple his coaching mind with Parsons — and boom — the defense became fantastic.
Floyd will turn 32 in May. The Cowboys have +1400 Super Bowl odds for 2023.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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