The St. Louis Rams have announced that Josh McDaniels is their new offensive coordinator. He replaced Pat Shurmur, who took the head coaching job in Cleveland.
It was believed that talks were breaking down between McDaniels and the Rams. However, all that likely meant was the former Broncos head coach, who started flirting with the Seattle Seahawks after they fired Jeremy Bates, was posturing for more money.
It will be money well spent if McDaniels does for Sam Bradford what he did for Matt Cassel. (And before Cassel, to a certain extent, Tom Brady.) But just because McDaniels is considered one of the best young offensive coaches in the game doesn’t mean this move is without risk for St. Louis.
Bradford spent his entire rookie season learning the West Coast offense. That will now be scrapped for McDaniels’ shotgun, spread-based scheme. It’s not an easy system to learn (neither was the West Coast, by the way). The Rams would not essentially nullify their franchise signalcaller's year’s worth of work for in the more common West Coast system if they didn’t believe they could build a long-term foundation with McDaniels’ scheme.
Just like in New England, McDaniels will have an opportunity to make his mark as a nearly-autonomous leader of the offense. Head coach Steve Spagnuolo devotes most of his energy to the defense.
McDaniels’ decision to go to St. Louis should trigger the final offensive coordinator hirings around the NFL, as the top prospect is off the market. The biggest name out there is now Brad Childress. As we wrote yesterday, McDaniels to St. Louis could have a considerable impact on the former Vikings head coach.
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