Briefly considered for the head
coaching job here in 2009, Ray Sherman is anticipated to be coming to
St. Louis for the 2012 season to take on the Herculean challenge of
coaching the team's wide receivers. As we are seeing with most of
Jeff Fisher's hires, Sherman has an extensive coaching record to run
on, in his case, over 20 years of NFL experience. He started as a
running backs, then WRs coach, for Jerry Glanville's Oilers in
1988-89. He's been an offensive coordinator or assistant head
coach/offense for four different teams, but never longer than a
season. He's coached WRs and RBs for the 49ers, and QBs for the
Vikings. We'll focus on his work with WRs, which he's been dedicated
to coaching for the last 10 years: 2000-04 with the Packers, 2005-06
with Jeff Fisher and the Titans, and 2007-10 with the Cowboys.
In a line that'll make anybody's resume
look good, Sherman coached Jerry Rice for two seasons in the 90s, two
of the thirteen years Rice made the Pro Bowl. Rice led the league in
receiving yards and TDs in 1993. With John Taylor hurt a lot of '92,
the 49ers actually got 600+ receiving yards out of Mike Sherrard.
Taylor returned in '93 for 58-940-5 TDs. Jeff Fisher was the 49ers'
defensive backs coach those same two years.
Donald Driver blossomed into a Pro Bowl
receiver under Sherman in Green Bay. After three seasons in
obscurity, Driver burst onto the scene in '02 with 70 catches, over
1,000 yards and 9 TDs. He topped that in '04 with 84 catches, over
1,200 yards and another 9 TDs. Javon Walker's widely remembered as a
bust pick for the Packers, but in '03, he led the team in receiving
yards and scored 9 TDs, and he had a Pro Bowl season in '04: 89
catches, almost 1,400 yards and 12 TDs. Walker blew out a knee the
first week of '05 and ended up washing out to Denver. Bill Schroeder
and Antonio Freeman both had over 60 catches and nearly 1,000 yards
apiece for the Packers in 2000 before their careers declined. Terry
Glenn had 56 catches and over 800 yards there in '02. So Sherman's
been able to coach up young prospects into Pro Bowlers, and to get
outsized results from unheralded vets.
Working for Jeff Fisher with next to no
wide receiving talent? Sherman's already been there, done that, in
2005-06. Those Titans teams threw predominantly to the tight ends.
And understandably: the leading receiver both years? DREW BENNETT.
Next!
Sherman repeated a lot of his past
success in a four-year run at Dallas. Sure, I could have coached
Terrell Owens to Pro Bowl seasons in his prime. (For the record:
81-1,355, 15 TDs and a Pro
Bowl in '07; 69-1,052 and 10 TDs in '08.) But at the same time,
previously-unknown Patrick Crayton turned in four seasons averaging
600 yards a season. After the Cowboys showed Owens the door in '09,
Miles Austin came out of nowhere - he had been almost strictly a kick
returner - and racked up back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons, 81-1,320 and
11 TDs in '09. Dez Bryant got off to a good start, on the field, his
rookie season in '10, 45-561-6 TD.
A lot
of the statistics of Sherman-coached receivers are even more
impressive, imho, when you see how much those teams also threw to
their backs and tight ends. Ahman Green had a ton of catches in Green
Bay. Jason Witten, who's probably always going to be Tony Romo's
primary receiver, led Dallas in receptions all four year Sherman was
there, even the T.O. years.
Dallas
did not renew Sherman's contract after 2010. Austin's numbers, though
still impressive, dropped off a bit after he signed a big contract.
Dallas had given up a king's ransom to get Roy Williams from Detroit
only to see him ring up 2-and-a-half years of lower production than
he did as a Lion. The real reason, though, was probably that head
coach Jason Garrett saw Sherman as a threat who undermined his
authority. Sherman was ostensibly one of the candidates Garrett beat
out when he got the HC job in Dallas, though many felt Sherman's
interview was just a courtesy on his part to allow the Cowboys to
satisfy the Rooney Rule. Sherman was a well-liked coach by his
players, to the point where they went to him to complain about
Garrett's play-calling. The move to let Sherman go was roundly
criticized in the press. However, last season, WR coach Jimmy
Robinson revived Laurent Robinson's corpse, and Bryant turned into a
#1-quality WR. Austin's production plummeted, as he struggled with
injuries. Meanwhile, Sherman didn't work anywhere in the NFL in 2011.
None
of the political B.S. that got Sherman run out of Dallas exists here
in St. Louis, though, where he should be a great fit. Jeff Fisher
isn't an inexperienced head coach insecure in his power like Garrett.
And unlike Garrett, Fisher's a players' coach who's unlikely to be
threatened by position coaches who are also players' coaches. (Seems
like that's something you'd want
in your staff.) Just as importantly, Ray Sherman has a solid record
in getting top performance out of established stars (Brandon Lloyd?),
coaching young WRs up into elite players (Justin Blackmon?) and even
getting surprising production out of unlikely players (Danario
Alexander? Dare I hope?). Whoever Sam Bradford's throwing to in 2012,
Ray Sherman should play a big part in assuring that they're
noticeable improvements over those he threw to in 2011. A-minus
-$-
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