Tag: kevin oconnell

Rams’ Kevin O’Connell to be among Panthers’ targets for OC job

The Panthers are expected to show interest in the Rams’ Kevin O’Connell for their offensive coordinator role.

It’s become an annual tradition under Sean McVay: an assistant coach from the Rams leaving to become either a coordinator or head coach with another team.

Teams have been targeting McVay’s assistants for years – and with great success, too. Kevin O’Connell could be next in line to leave Los Angeles for another job.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Panthers are expected to be interested in interviewing O’Connell for their offensive coordinator job. Their other targets are Jay Gruden and Bill O’Brien, who have both been head coaches in the NFL.

O’Connell is in his second season with the Rams after being hired as their offensive coordinator in 2020. He doesn’t call the plays – Sean McVay does – but he’s an integral part of the weekly game planning and works closely with the quarterbacks.

Before joining the Rams, O’Connell was Washington’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and previously worked as the team’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.

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Sean McVay ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if Rams lose more coaches this offseason

Sean McVay has lost plenty of coaches to other teams in the last four years and he wouldn’t be surprised if that continues in 2022.

The Los Angeles Rams have been a pathway to success for assistant coaches with several of them being hired by other teams after brief stints with the Rams. Some of the more notable names include Matt LaFleur, Zac Taylor and Brandon Staley, who all went on to land head-coaching gigs after working as coordinators on Sean McVay’s staff.

McVay has had to replace coaches more often than he’d like to, though he is always happy to see them earn promotions and advance their careers. This coming offseason probably won’t be any different with there being a very good chance that at least a handful of coaches leave L.A. for jobs with other teams.

McVay wouldn’t be surprised if that happens, and as tough as it’ll be to replace them, he’ll also be excited for them.

“It’s one of the coolest, most rewarding things, but it’s also very challenging because you’re losing great people – because we’ve had a lot of turnover for all the right reasons,” McVay said Thursday. “These guys have earned the opportunity to continue to progress. I think the one thing that I’ve really learned is how fortunate and blessed I was early on in my career to have people who were willing to give me opportunities to even be in this role talking to you guys.

“But you have to replace those people, and that hasn’t always been the easiest thing. But we’ve had a lot of great people come through here. Nothing makes me happier than to see that, but that doesn’t mean I’m excited about losing great coaches. I look at it like it’s positive problems, but I’ve gotten a chance to get exposure to a lot of really special coaches. I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose some great ones this year and I’ll be happy but I’ll be disappointed that I don’t get to work with those guys anymore but it’ll be an opportunity for other people to connect with them and if that happens, then it’s a good thing. It’s bittersweet.”

It’s not hard to see which coaches might get an opportunity with other teams this offseason. Raheem Morris could be a target for teams looking for a new head coach, given his experience in that exact role and with the job he’s done as the Rams’ defensive coordinator this season.

Kevin O’Connell could also be the next coach to go from Rams offensive coordinator to calling plays somewhere else, similar to the way LaFleur and Taylor did. Running backs coach/assistant head coach Thomas Brown is another name to watch during the hiring cycle, being someone McVay always speaks highly of.

The Rams are prepared to lose some of their assistants and like McVay said, it wouldn’t be surprising. But they’ve found ways to replace important coaches in the past, so it’ll just be much of the same in 2022.

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Rams OC Kevin O’Connell named a young assistant to watch during 2022 hiring cycle

Kevin O’Connell could be the next Rams assistant to be hired as another team’s head coach.

By now, Sean McVay should just plan to lose at least one or two of his top assistants each year. Every offseason, the Rams’ coaching staff gets raided by other teams, poaching coordinators and position coaches to bolster their own group.

Just this past year, McVay and the Rams lost the likes of Brandon Staley, Joe Barry, Aubrey Pleasant and Shane Waldron, all of whom were given promotions by other teams. This coming offseason, Kevin O’Connell could be the name to watch.

Tom Pelissero of NFL.com put together a preliminary list of young assistants to watch as head-coaching candidates in 2022 and O’Connell was among them. Here’s what Pelissero wrote about O’Connell.

A one-time Patriots third-round draft pick, O’Connell is now in his seventh year of as an NFL coach and third as an OC, including an interim play-calling stint in Washington in 2019 before he joined Sean McVay’s staff in L.A. That staff has been an incubator for head coaches who are currently having success, even though Matt LaFleur and Zac Taylor, like O’Connell, watched McVay call the plays. In every other way, O’Connell functions as a true OC, from scripting to installing, while also working closely with QB Matthew Stafford. The Rams’ decision to block O’Connell from following Brandon Staley to the Chargers (among other teams) shows how valuable he is to them. And O’Connell’s expanded duties this year after some staff departures are helping prepare him for the next step.

O’Connell never on Washington’s staff when McVay was there, being hired as the quarterbacks coach in 2017 and then promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019. The Rams brought him in as their offensive coordinator in 2020 and he’s held that job for two years.

Though McVay calls the plays during the regular season, O’Connell handled that duty in the preseason and has been a key part of the coaching staff next to McVay. As Pelissero pointed out, he helps with game-plan installs and scheming, and he’s also the de facto quarterbacks coach, too, since Liam Coen left to become Kentucky’s offensive coordinator.

If O’Connell were to be hired as a head coach, he’d follow in the lines of Zac Taylor and Matt LaFleur as former Rams offensive assistants to get that opportunity. Staley did it on the defensive side this year, going from coordinator to Chargers head coach.

Pelissero also listed a bunch of other young assistants who could draw interest in the coming years, and three other Rams were selected: RBs coach Thomas Brown, secondary coach Ejiro Evero and TEs coach Wes Phillips, who’s Wade Phillips’ son.

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Kevin O’Connell explains how Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff are similar

Kevin O’Connell explains the similarities between Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff before the Rams and Lions square off in Week 7.

Kevin O’Connell, the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams, has had the opportunity to coach Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff in the past two seasons. We all know that Stafford and Goff are extremely different quarterbacks, as evidenced by the reputation that both of them hold in NFL circles.

Despite the differing qualities of both quarterbacks, O’Connell articulated how Stafford and Goff are similar.

“They’re both incredibly talented throwers of the football, just in its purest form. Different, but the way the ball leaves their hands it doesn’t take long being on the practice field as their quarterback coach (to see) that both guys throw the football at a pretty elite level,” O’Connell said Thursday. “I’m strictly speaking about a point A to point B and the variation of throws that NFL quarterbacks have to make. Both those guys are two of the best that I’ve been around doing that specifically. And then as far as some of the differences, I think the experience factor of Matthew over a lot of years, playing with a lot of different teammates allows him to do a lot of different things from a standpoint of versatility in the offense.”

There’s no denying that when Goff has a clean pocket and time to survey the field, he’s a talented passer. However, when it comes to the other areas of being a franchise quarterback, there’s a reason why the Rams found it necessary to acquire Stafford.

Stafford has Los Angeles sitting in a good spot with a 5-1 record on the season while Goff is on the lone winless team in the NFL. Even though Goff’s numbers haven’t been encouraging thus far, O’Connell still sees his former quarterback making positive plays this season.

“I think you see Jared, even this year, doing some things like that and things we did at times with him,” O’Connell said. “It’s just a matter of experience and he’s still – people forget that he’s still a young player by the measure of, I mean we’ve got one quarterback in our league that is saying he’s going to play till he’s 50-plus, it sounds like. So a lot of football ahead, a lot of good football ahead for both those guys. It’s just a matter of what makes the quarterbacks in this league unique is the ability to grow every single day. And we’re seeing that with a lot of guys around the league playing at a really high level. And I think those two guys fall right into that category.”

O’Connell sees similarities between Stafford and Goff, but he’s certainly hoping his current quarterback can outperform his former on Sunday.

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Sony Michel has already impressed Kevin O’Connell in practice so far

Sony Michel has caught the attention of Kevin O’Connell in his first practices with the Los Angeles Rams.

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Les Snead didn’t waste any time finding a complementary running back to pair with Darrell Henderson Jr. this season by conducting a trade for Sony Michel last week. The Los Angeles Rams sent multiple draft picks to the New England Patriots to acquire the former first-round pick out of Georgia.

Michel is expected to shoulder a backup role behind Henderson, but Kevin O’Connell has been dazzled by what he’s seen from the newly acquired running back thus far.

“Obviously, as advertised from a standpoint of his balance and you can just see his contact balance and he’s got a very powerful presence when he’s got the ball in his hands. We’re still trying to – he’s still learning. It’s completely different. In a roundabout way, I’ve been in that offense before, so I know how much different that verbiage is,” O’Connell said, referring to the Patriots’ offense. “He’s going to be working through it. He’s out there right now, right over your shoulder with Thomas Brown working on some things and it’ll just be incrementally better every day for him. And just talking to him, once things start to slow down mentally, I think we’re really going to start to see him get comfortable and take off.”

Michel has two 900-yard seasons under his belt that came in 2018 and 2019 before he dealt with an injury that limited him to nine games in 2020. When Michel is healthy, he’s at his best running between the tackles and when he’s able to survey the field. His ability to maintain balance through contact is something that has caught the eye of O’Connell already.

With the emergence of Damien Harris, along with the presence of Rhamondre Stevenson and James White, Michel was far from a lock to make New England’s roster. But with the Rams, he’ll instantly become the backup to Henderson amid the unfortunate season-ending injury to Cam Akers.

The good news is that Michel has already made a fantastic decision to switch from No. 14 to No. 25 upon arriving in Los Angeles. With a new jersey number in place and O’Connell’s remarks, Michel seems on track to be a short-yardage back while Henderson handles the larger workload. It remains to be seen if their roles are altered throughout the course of the season.

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Kevin O’Connell shares how Rams view Johnny Mundt as ‘a vertical threat’ on offense

Kevin O’Connell discusses how the Rams plan on deploying Johnny Mundt for the 2021 season.

Tyler Higbee figures to be the No. 1 tight end for the Los Angeles Rams this season, but he won’t be the only tight end utilized in the offense. With the departure of Gerald Everett this offseason, Johnny Mundt is in line to receive more playing time in his fifth season with the organization. Kevin O’Connell, the offensive coordinator of the Rams, believes Mundt could be a “vertical threat” in the new-look offense that has Matthew Stafford under center.

That, despite Mundt being seen as more of a blocking tight end due to his lack of production as a receiver.

“I think he’s seen like that because he’s really excelled at that skillset, but Matthew and I were talking about him today, actually, just how much of a vertical threat he can be,” O’Connell said. “We all saw last year against Chicago, really in a week where we needed him, his playmaking ability with the ball in his hands, yards after catch, different ways we can activate him in our offense. And then, oh, by the way, he’s one of the best, in my opinion, on the edge blocking at the Y position, F position, however you activate those guys.”

The game O’Connell is speaking about came in Week 7 of the 2020 season. Higbee was sidelined with an injury, which led to Mundt seeing an increased role in the offense. Mundt would finish the game with three receptions for 48 yards, including a 34-yard reception that he caught over the middle of the field from Jared Goff in the second quarter.

By simply looking at his career numbers, Mundt hasn’t been very productive with only nine receptions for 84 yards in his first four seasons. Despite his unimpressive stats, the Rams seemingly view Mundt as an important piece of their offense. Aside from O’Connell’s confidence in Mundt being able to create plays down the field, he believes Mundt’s ability to contribute as a run-blocker makes him valuable moving forward.

Some people may be anxious to see rookie Jacob Harris become a cog in the offense this season. But with O’Connell heaping praise on Mundt, we should expect to see more of No. 82 on the field at the tight end position. While Higbee is expected to post the best numbers at the tight end position, there’s a chance Mundt has a career year with the Rams in 2021.

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Sean McVay using preseason to groom Kevin O’Connell as a play caller

Sean McVay is once again using the preseason to groom his assistants, this time letting Kevin O’Connell call the plays.

By now you’ve heard that Sean McVay doesn’t put a whole lot of value in the preseason. He keeps his starters on the sidelines and reserves these games for players further down on the depth chart who are fighting to make the 53-man roster.

He also doesn’t use the preseason to work on play calling. As he’s done in the past, McVay will hand off those duties to one of his assistant coaches in an attempt to give him the chance to gain experience as a play caller.

It was Shane Waldron who called the plays during the 2019 preseason, and this year, it’ll be Kevin O’Connell assuming that role. McVay was asked about this plan while chatting with J.B. Long, saying he expects O’Connell to do a great job.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for him,” McVay said. “He’s got a great feel for everything that’s going on. Got a great understanding. He’s called plays before when he was in Washington and he’ll do an excellent job this preseason.”

There are two benefits to letting someone else call the plays during the preseason. For one, McVay doesn’t have to worry about tipping his hand ahead of the regular season by giving opponents film to study before Week 1.

Every team uses vanilla play calls with basic route combinations and whatnot, but it’s easier to keep things under wraps when someone else is leading the offense.

Secondly, it’s valuable experience for O’Connell. Matt LaFleur called plays in the second half of a preseason game against the Raiders in 2017, one year before becoming the Titans’ offensive coordinator (and play caller). Waldron called plays in 2019 and this past offseason, he landed a gig with the Seahawks as their offensive coordinator … and play caller.

O’Connell is clearly on a path to becoming a play caller and possibly a head coach down the road, so the more he can practice calling plays, the better suited he’ll be to take on a bigger role.

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Kevin O’Connell has a ‘huge influence’ on Rams offense and Sean McVay refused to lose him

Sean McVay explained why he blocked Kevin O’Connell from interviewing for the Chargers’ OC position.

Sean McVay has called the Rams’ offensive plays since he was hired in 2017, and he’s had plenty of success in doing so. His two offensive coordinators in the last four years, Matt LaFleur and Kevin O’Connell, both helped him on game days and during the week of planning, but neither called the plays for the Rams.

LaFleur left to become the Titans’ OC in 2018 and eventually the Packers’ head coach, but McVay wasn’t going to let the same thing happen with O’Connell this offseason. It was reported that he blocked O’Connell from interviewing for the Chargers’ offensive coordinator position, which McVay confirmed on Thursday.

McVay explained that he values O’Connell immensely and he’s a big part of what the Rams want to do on offense, so he didn’t want to lose him to Brandon Staley and the Chargers – especially with O’Connell’s role set to grow.

“That is accurate. Kevin’s a great coach. He’s our offensive coordinator. He has a huge say and a huge influence on how we want to operate, and I think even more so moving forward,” McVay said. “I was really excited about the opportunity to be able to work with him in year two, continue to collaborate, learn from him. He understands how valuable he is to me and to the Rams and we talked about all those things, but I think it’s a credit to the respect that he’s garnered around the league. What I would say is he’s our OC and that’s why we blocked him.”

McVay has always been a big supporter of his assistant coaches by trying to help them advance their careers with various promotions – even at the expense of losing those coaches to other teams. He’s helped the likes of LaFleur, Staley and Zac Taylor, among others, with all three of them going on to earn head coaching jobs.

McVay isn’t giving up play-calling duties to O’Connell, and he’s aware that O’Connell likely would’ve gotten the chance to do so with the Chargers, but he didn’t want to lose his offensive coordinator to the same position with another team.

McVay said he’s talked to O’Connell about play-calling, but it doesn’t sound like a change will be made in the near future.

“Yeah, and those are things that you always talk about. I think each situation is independent,” he said. “I don’t think you ever want to pigeonhole yourself into – Kevin and I had a lot of great dialogue and I’m always going to listen. I’m not interested in losing a coach to go do that same role and I’m not naive to the fact that the play calling, and those things are very important and when that situation came up with Matt (LaFleur), we talked about that. Kevin and I have had great conversations, but I would like to think that anybody that’s been a part of this Rams’ building knows that there is an investment in us trying to help guys continue to grow and if opportunities that they have outside this building don’t exist in-house, then usually that’s when we’re going to let guys go, even if it doesn’t help the Rams and that’s kind of been the approach.”

O’Connell worked closely with Jared Goff and the quarterbacks last season, and will likely continue to do so with Matthew Stafford in 2021, too. Clearly, McVay values him greatly and it’s not unreasonable to think O’Connell could get looks as a head coach next offseason.

But for now, McVay wants him by his side in Los Angeles – at least for one more year.

Report: Sean McVay blocked Brandon Staley, Chargers from interviewing Kevin O’Connell

Brandon Staley and the Chargers targeted Kevin O’Connell for their OC role, but Sean McVay won’t let that happen.

The Los Angeles Chargers already stole Brandon Staley from the Rams, so Sean McVay isn’t going to let them poach another coach from his staff. According to Albert Breer of The MMQB, the Rams blocked the Chargers from interviewing Kevin O’Connell for their offensive coordinator position.

It’s no surprise that Staley targeted O’Connell for that role on his staff after working with him in 2020 with the Rams, but it is somewhat interesting that McVay blocked the interview from happening. The NFL permits teams from blocking interviews if it’s a lateral move for the coach, meaning it’s for the same position with another team.

McVay allowed Matt LaFleur to leave the Rams in 2018 to join the Titans as their offensive coordinator, but he doesn’t want to lose O’Connell in the same fashion. It makes sense, too.

By keeping O’Connell, McVay keeps some sense of continuity for Jared Goff, who otherwise would’ve gone through yet another offensive coordinator if O’Connell left.

That’s bad business for a quarterback and does nothing to help his development. With O’Connell being a former quarterback himself, he can help develop Goff further in 2021, assuming the Rams keep him as their starter.

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Report: Kevin O’Connell is a candidate to be Chargers’ offensive coordinator

Brandon Staley could bring Kevin O’Connell with him as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator.

The Los Angeles Chargers hired Brandon Staley as their next head coach on Sunday, but he may not be the only Rams assistant to jump from one L.A. team to the other. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell is a potential candidate to follow Staley to the Chargers, where he would also be their offensive coordinator.

As Pelissero points out, because it would be a lateral move from OC to OC, Sean McVay could block O’Connell from leaving. It’s unlikely that he would do so after he let Matt LaFleur leave for the same job in 2018, but it’s possible that the Rams could lose both of their top coordinators this offseason.

O’Connell didn’t call the plays with the Rams, as that was McVay’s job. But with the Chargers, he would get the chance to call them. This is a similar situation to LaFleur’s three years ago when he also got the opportunity to call the plays in Tennessee after one year with the Rams.

McVay hired O’Connell as his offensive coordinator before the 2020 season, bringing him over from Washington where he held the same position. O’Connell is a former NFL quarterback and was a third-round pick by the Patriots in 2008.

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