Tag: Sharrif Floyd

Commanders hire Sharrif Floyd from Cowboys as assistant DL coach

Sharrif Floyd is a former first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings and began his coaching career in Dallas.

Dan Quinn is assembling an impressive defensive coaching staff. On Tuesday, he added Sharrif Floyd as his assistant defensive line coach.

Floyd becomes the second assistant to follow Quinn from Dallas to Washington. The 32-year-old Floyd began his coaching career with the Cowboys last year as an assistant defensive line coach/defensive quality control coach.

Floyd, who played defensive tackle, was the 23rd overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. A first-team All-American at Florida, Floyd played four NFL seasons — all with the Vikings — before a nerve injury ended his playing career.

Floyd injured his meniscus in the first game of the 2016 season and underwent surgery. However, he suffered nerve damage in the injured knee, ending his career. Floyd filed a $180 million malpractice lawsuit against Dr. James Andrews and the Andrews Institute.

Floyd’s NFL career ended after 44 games, and he made 95 tackles and had 9.5 sacks.

Quinn was Floyd’s defensive coordinator for his final two seasons at Florida from 2011-12.

Tug of war between Cowboys, Commanders as Quinn pulls, poaches

Quinn’s desire to bring over a bunch of familiar names at his new digs was met with some level of resistance by Dallas. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys finally lost defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to a head coaching job after fending off suitors for two offseasons. Quinn did a great job turning around a defense that was one of the worst in franchise history and was rewarded for his three years of service by getting one of the top 32 gigs in professional football.

Unfortunately, the coaching job he took was with the Washington Commanders. As NFC East rivals, the Commanders and Cowboys have a long history of feuds and hatred between the two iconic organizations, and Quinn’s hiring appears to be stoking the flames once again.

Quinn’s hiring meant he was going to try and bring along coaches he’s worked with in the past, which includes several position coaches in Dallas. Since Quinn’s been the head man with the Commanders, there’s been a healthy amount of tug of war between the two teams involving their coaches.

Here’s who’s gone, who might go, and who hasn’t been allowed to go with Mr. Quinn to Washington.

73 days until Vikings season opener: Every player to wear No. 73

As we near the start of the regular season, we take a look at every play to wear No. 73 for the Vikings.

It’s the final countdown…

Well, sort of.

The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 73 days at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.

From now until then, we will take a trip down memory lane and count each day by revisiting the players that have worn that specific jersey number.

Tashawn Bower was the last player to wear the number in a game, but the number will be remembered for Ron Yary, who wore it for 14 seasons.

With 73 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 73 with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):

Minnesota Vikings history at each of their 2023 draft picks

The Minnesota Vikings have 5 picks in the 2023 NFL draft. See their history at each of their selections.

The Minnesota Vikings are scheduled to pick five times in the 2023 NFL draft. That would be he least amount of picks the Vikings have made since they selected five times in both 2008 and 2009.

Over the 62 year history of the Vikings, they have never made fewer than five draft picks, while making an NFL record 15 seletctions in the 2020 NFL draft.

The Vikings picks currently sit at 23, 87, 119, 158 and 211 and they have made a combined 11 picks at those selections. Here are how the Vikings have picked at each spot

Former Viking Sharrif Floyd hired to Cowboys coaching staff

Former Vikings defensive lineman Sharrif Floyd is joining the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff

Former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Sharrif Floyd is returning to the NFL, but this time as an assistant coach. It was reported by Field Yates of ESPN on Thursday that the former Viking would be joining the Dallas Cowboys as an assistant defensive line and defensive quality control coach.

Yates is quick to point out the connection that Floyd has with current Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Floyd and Quinn spent time together when Floyd played for the Florida Gators in college. During training camp in 2022, Floyd also spent time with the Cowboys coaching staff.

In 2013, Floyd was drafted by the Vikings in the first round of the NFL Draft. He went on to play for the Vikings for four seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire from football in 2017. Despite his short career, Floyd is still remembered for his athleticism and versatility on the field.

This will be a great opportunity for Floyd to get back to the game he loves after having it taken away by a botched surgery that attempted to fix his injured knee.

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Cowboys add former safety, infamously shunned draft target to coaching staff

The draft pick that wasn’t, but led to the current brain trust, safety who stayed longer than many thought he would find work in Dallas. | From @ToddBrock24f7

It’s no secret the Cowboys love to collect former first-round draft picks. Now they have one on their coaching staff. They’ve also brought back a very recent alum to help man the sidelines in a new capacity.

Dallas has reportedly hired Sharrif Floyd as its new assistant defensive line coach and defensive quality control coach, per a Thursday night tweet from ESPN’s Field Yates. In addition, ex-safety Darian Thompson will serve as the team’s new assistant linebackers and quality control coach; that development comes via the Dallas Morning News.

Floyd was selected by the Vikings with the 23rd overall pick in 2013’s NFL draft and played four seasons as a defensive tackle in Minnesota; he was forced into an early retirement due to severe nerve damage in his knee following a 2016 surgery.

There are a couple of Cowboys connections for Floyd. The lesser known side is that Floyd played two seasons of college ball at Florida with Dan Quinn as his defensive coordinator. He also spent a portion of last summer’s training camp interning with the team’s coaching staff.

Floyd is also linked to the Cowboys from the draft. In 2013, and in need of defensive tackle help, Floyd was available when the Cowboys came on the clock at 18. Dallas had Floyd ranked extremely highly but instead of taking him, traded down to No. 30. There, they allegedly reached for a center.

The decision to go against the scout’s draft board led to Will McClay’s eventual ascension to the top of the personnel hierarchy.

Floyd had been back in Gainesville, earning his college degree and working as a student-assistant under Gators coaches Dan Mullen and Billy Napier.

“[The] guy’s got a bright future in football and was an exceptional player,” Napier said of Floyd prior to the Gators’ 2022 season. “I think he’s got character. I think he understands the big picture, takes pride in his role, and certainly him being able to coach on the field, I think, is an advantage for players,” Napier said in August.

Floyd will replace Leon Lett, the Cowboys’ longtime assistant defensive line coach who was also a defensive tackle for the dynasty teams of the 1990s. Lett was one of the assistant coaches let go in January after Dallas’s divisional-round playoff loss.

As for Thompson, he last played, for the Cowboys, in 2021. A third-round pick by the Giants in 2016, he played two seasons in New York and then ended up in Dallas for the 2018 campaign.

With the Cowboys, the former Boise State Bronco appeared in 45 games over four years but was not re-signed after the 2021 season.  He finished his NFL playing career with 173 combined tackles, 1.5 sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

He reportedly interviewed for his new position on the Cowboys coaching staff this week.

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Vikings have a complicated history at pick number 23

The Vikings have selected at pick number 23 four times in their history and it’s a mixed bag of returns

The NFL draft is known as a crap shoot. You can find a hall of fame player just about anywhere but being able to identify them is the biggest challenge. Some teams can find great talent anywhere while others struggle to find good players in round one where it’s the easiest to identify those talents.

The Minnesota Vikings have seen all forms of both success and failures and their track record at the 23rd overall pick is the epitome of just that. They have made four total selections at the 23 in franchise history and it’s a complicated one.

ESPN’s 50 all-time greatest defenses includes this Florida squad

ESPN’s Bill Connelly ranks the 50 greatest college football defenses of all time, with the 2012 Gators making the list.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly recently released his list of the 50 greatest college football defenses of all time. Connelly is famous for being college football’s resident “numbers guy”, with his SP+ ratings and annual returning production analysis consumed by the masses.

According to Connelly, only the 2012 Florida Gators defense made the list at No. 26. Connelly’s justification is as follows.

Against a schedule featuring nine opponents with eight-plus wins, and with an offense that lacked much initiative (to put it diplomatically), Florida allowed a combined 17 points to top-10 LSU and South Carolina teams and damn near made the BCS championship game by riding a defense that boasted [autotag]Sharrif Floyd[/autotag] at the front, [autotag]Matt Elam[/autotag] at the back and a bunch of standouts in between.

The Gators allowed 14.5 points per game en route to an 11-2 season which saw the Gators start 7-0 before a 17-9 loss to Georgia, knocking them out of the SEC East title picture. They would run the table the rest of the way until losing 33-23 to a Teddy Bridgewater-led Louisville team in the Sugar Bowl.

Connelly clearly took a numbers approach to his rankings, as is evident by a certain writer’s (me) belief (again, me) that there are other Florida Gators defenses that are better than the 2012 edition Connelly put on this list.

*camera cuts to me The Office-style as I pull out a sign that reads #JusticeForThe2015GatorsDefense*

Connelly’s No. 1 defense of all time? The 2017 Alabama defense that went 13-1 and allowed 11.9 ppg and included players such as Minkah Fitzpatrick, Rashaan Evans, Raekwon Davis, Trevon Diggs, among others. That team lost to Clemson in the CFP National Championship game 35-31 in a legendary game that ended with a de facto walk-off touchdown reception by Hunter Renfrow.

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2 Vikings listed on PFF’s One-Year Wonder Team

One player is off the team, while the other made the Pro Bowl last season.

The folks over at Pro Football Focus put together a list that you’d rather not be on. Well, I guess, maybe you would depending on the expectations for yourself.

PFF put out its One-Year Wonder Team based on players who had one really good season since 2006, but could never quite claim that same success again.

The Vikings have two players on the list. One is out of the league entirely, and one just made the Pro Bowl last season.

First, let’s cover 2013 first-round pick Sharrif Floyd. For the success he had during the 2014 season. Floyd finished with a PFF grade of 84.2 that season. His fall off, of course, wasn’t necessarily due to skill. Floyd’s career came to an end after the 2016 season due to a knee injury.

The other Viking on the list is linebacker Anthony Barr. In 2015, Barr had a PFF grade of 90. Since then, however, Barr’s best grade has been 70.5. Last season, Barr had a grade of just 56.3, the second-worst mark of his career.

You can check out the full One-Year Wonder Team here.