The Vikings are officially retaining wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell under new head coach Kevin O'Connell, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
McCardell was the one assistant coach from Mike Zimmer's staff who seemed likely to stick around under a new regime. Not only did he do a great job in his first year as Minnesota's WRs coach in 2021, the Vikings' wide receiver room publicly campaigned for him to stay.
The results speak for themselves. Justin Jefferson, who quickly developed a strong bong with McCardell, not only was able to repeat his incredible rookie season, he got even better with a 1,616-yard, ten-touchdown sophomore campaign. Despite receiving significant attention from defenses, Jefferson finished second in the NFL in receiving yards and fell 16 yards short of breaking Randy Moss's Vikings single-season record.
It wasn't just Jefferson. Adam Thielen battled through injuries to record another ten touchdown catches. K.J. Osborn had a breakout second season under McCardell's tutelage, catching 50 passes for 655 yards and seven touchdowns. Even fifth-round rookie Ihmir Smith-Marsette joined the party late in the season, catching a pair of touchdown passes and finishing the season with a 100-yard performance.
"I kinda had mentioned that to the owners," Thielen said on Ben Leber's Unrestricted podcast. "Hey, if you want Justin to be your franchise guy, which everybody knows that he should be and could be, then you better keep [McCardell] around because the relationship they have is so strong. And for that reason — because he coaches him hard but he also shows him a ton of love. When he's not doing things the right way or he's ever late to a meeting or something like that, he's going to know about it and he's going to be coached hard."
Thielen said the Vikings' wide receivers had the best practices he's seen in his nine NFL seasons in 2021. He praised McCardell's ability to balance difficult coaching with love and praise, saying there was a standard established that made all of the Vikings' receivers better.
McCardell brings a significant level of credibility to the job not just because of his talents as a coach, but also because of what he accomplished in the NFL as a receiver. He was a 12th-round pick in 1991 and ended up recording over 11,000 yards across 16 seasons with five different teams, going from a fringe roster player to a two-time Pro Bowler with five 1,000-yard seasons. McCardell won two Super Bowls as a player.
Since beginning his coaching career in 2010, McCardell has been a receivers coach with the Washington NFL team, the University of Maryland, the Jaguars, and now the Vikings.
Here's what O'Connell's coaching staff looks like so far:
- Head coach: Kevin O'Connell
- Offensive coordinator:
- Quarterbacks:
- Running backs/run game coordinator: Curtis Modkins
- Wide receivers: Keenan McCardell
- Tight ends:
- Offensive line: Chris Kuper
- Defensive coordinator: Ed Donatell
- Defensive line: Chris Rumph
- Linebackers:
- Defensive backs:
- Special teams coordinator:
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