It can’t be official until the end of the Super Bowl, but the Rams will lose a member of their staff. Los Angeles offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell has been chosen by the Vikings as the franchise’s new coach, according to NFL Network.
Aged just 36, O’Connell started out in the NFL in a playing role. Chosen in the third round by the Patriots in 2008, he was notably the understudy of Tom Brady. Discreet on the pitch, he turned to coaching in 2015, as an assistant with the Browns. Direction then the 49ers, then Washington, where he became offensive coordinator. Ron Rivera is not keeping him, and it is for this same position that the Rams recover him in 2020.
O’Connell should therefore join Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur and Brandon Staley in the list of assistants to Sean McVay hired in a position of main coach before reaching his forties.
On the Minnesota side, we are therefore betting on youth rather than experience. Nominated for the post in recent days, Jim Harbaugh was ultimately not selected, despite nine hours of interview with the purple leaders on Wednesday.
