Josh McDaniels Leaning Towards Rams Over Vikings. . .Maybe

by Christopher Gates on Jan 18, 2011 10:38 AM CST in Minnesota Vikings

Last night, the Star-Tribune ran a story on their website saying that former New England Patriots offensive coordinator and Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels was "leaning" towards accepting the offensive coordinator position with the St. Louis Rams. McDaniels is still, to my knowledge, the only person the Vikings and Leslie Frazier have interviewed for the OC position, unless they conducted some sort of secret squirrel, way under the radar interview without anybody in the media picking up on it. . .which, in this day and age, would be kind of amazing.

However, from what Darren Wolfson is reporting (via ESPN's Chris Mortensen), it appears that McDaniels to the Rams is pretty far from a done deal.

RT @mortreport: Rams' talks breaking down w McDaniels; Rams seek permission to talk to Falcons' Bill Musgrave & Vikings' Darrell Bevellless than a minute ago via TweetDeckDarren Wolfson
DarrenWolfson

Wow. . .things are going so badly with McDaniels that the Rams actually want to talk with Darrell Bevell? I mean, I'm sure that they won't have any trouble getting permission from the Vikings, since he's already been told that he's free to look for other jobs, but still. . .damn.

Hopefully there will be a few more developments to report on concerning this story throughout the course of the day.

In an unrelated story, Aaron Rodgers saw Darren Wolfson's hat and refused to do an interview with him.

EDIT: Also, according to Chris Mortensen, Musgrave also has an interview scheduled with the Vikings this week (and one with the Cleveland Browns as well). So maybe the developments won't be coming as fast or furiously as we might like.

EDIT to the EDIT: Bevell will be interviewing for the quarterback coach position with the Seattle Seahawks today as well. Eventually, I'll edit this post enough times to connect every team in the NFL to it.

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Jeremy Bates

Seahawks OC Jeremy Bates was fired today by Pete Carroll. Bates has worked extensively with Mike Shannahan in the past and is heavily influenced by him. Meaning his scheme focuses a lot of attention on running the ball combined with a vertical passing game triggered by a highly mobile quarterback (Elway, Plummer, Cutler…)

It seems to me the Vikings’ personnel might be a great fit for a guy like Bates. There’s even a possibility they could draft Jake Locker at #12, who is pretty much a perfect match physically for the system. If not, Bates might still be able to work with Webb.

I wouldn’t mind if the Vikings brought this guy in for an interview.

by jianfu on Jan 18, 2011 1:55 PM CST reply actions

Wasn't Shanahan a big proponent of a zone-blocking scheme??

Hasn’t really worked out too well for us.

I have no idea what we're yelling about!

by SoDakHmr on Jan 18, 2011 6:56 PM CST up reply actions

Shanahan coached the Broncos for 14 seasons. His teams finished outside the top 10 in yards/rush only twice (what the ZBS is for), and he also usually fielded an top-10 scoring offense. He finished outside the top 10 just 5 times in scoring (including his final 3 years, before that it had been just twice in 11 years he had a non-top-10 scoring offense).

The scheme isn’t inherently bad, but it requires athletic lineman. The Vikings have one of the least athletic lines in the league. That’s the problem.

Besides, the days of pure power schemes are over. Even longtime smashmouth teams like the Steelers incorporate some zone stuff now and then.

by jianfu on Jan 18, 2011 7:36 PM CST up reply actions