Arizona Cardinals wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson has a unique situation. He has a job in the NFL and has a son who is a player. Wide receiver Van Jefferson plays for the Los Angeles Rams, one of the Cardinals’ division rivals.
When Jefferson was hired a year ago, he said he wanted to kick his son’s butt when the two teams play one another.
However, when the Rams were in the Super Bowl, the Cardinals coach wanted the Rams to win the championship for his son.
Jefferson, appearing on the Big Red Rage, one of the team’s weekly radio shows, revealed that his situation is tough.
“I talk to some of my colleagues, and they’re like, ‘It’s got to be great, playing your son twice a year,’ ” Jefferson said on the show, via AZCardinals.com’s Darren Urban. “I’m like, ‘No, it’s not. The swing of emotions, and after I play him, when I go home I’m totally spent. At one point I want to beat the crap out of him .. and at the same time I want him to do well.”
He is still competitive.
“I don’t want to get my butt beat, especially by my son,” he said. “It’s the toughest thing I’ve had to do as a coach, watching my son on the other side of the ball.”
Jefferson had good games against the Cardinals in 2021. In two games in the regular season, he caught eight passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns, scoring once in each regular-season appearance.
In the Rams’ playoff win over Arizona, Jefferson added one 41-yard catch.
The Cardinals and Rams split their two regular-season games and the Rams eliminated the Cardinals in the postseason.
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