Continuity key in 2020
Coaching staff and roster stability important as ever during COVID-19 offseason
An offseason centered around Zoom meetings, an abbreviated training camp and the absence of exhibition games made continuity more vital than usual in this year of the coronavirus in the NFL.
The joy San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan experienced last January when trusty defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was passed over for the head job in Cleveland has become even more pronounced. Similar feelings have reverberated around the league among coaches with the benefit of stability on their rosters and staffs after the COVID-19 pandemic made the process of installing systems and building chemistry more challenging than usual.
No club has as much continuity this season as Shanahan’s defending NFC champion Niners.
Their coordinators and key assistants are all back, as well as most of the contributing players who anchored last year’s turnaround season. According to a study by SportRadar, the 49ers return the highest percentage of overall snaps played last season (81.6%). The defense also has a league-high 87.2% of snaps returning. “It’s definitely a lot more easy on your anxiety when you can’t go in and you can’t meet with the players except on Zooms,” Shanahan said, reflecting on the offseason program that largely took place behind a screen. “We’ve added a few different guys player-wise and we have added a couple of different coaches, but the foundation of our team and especially our defense and our defensive coordinator, that hasn’t changed. I do think that helps a lot, especially where we left off.”
The 49ers are one of three teams
bringing back players who participated in more than 80% of snaps last season. Buffalo (81.5%) and Indianapolis (80.3%) are just behind. Though the Colts acquired a new quarterback, Philip Rivers, the Bills brought in big-play wide receiver Stefon Diggs, and left tackle Trent Williams stepped in for the Niners, Rivers and Williams at least have previous experience with their new coaching staffs, easing the transition.
New Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule and his staff have faced quite the opposite this summer.
Rhule is one of five coaches taking over a team. He also is transitioning from college to the pros, with the only club that has a new head coach, projected starting quarterback and coordinators.
With stalwarts like Cam Newton, Greg Olsen, Luke Kuechly and Trai Turner all departed, the Panthers are the only team with less than half of the snaps last season returning (49.9%), with a league-low 35% on defense and third-lowest 58% on offense. Fortunately for Rhule, new quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has familiarity with offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s system, having spent the 2018 season together in New Orleans.
“There’s no playbook for this time. It isn’t like you can call up the other NFL head coaches and commiserate and say, ‘Hey, how are you guys handling this?’ You kind of have to figure it out on your own. So, that has obviously been challenging,” said Rhule.
Raiders coach Jon Gruden can relate. While the Raiders have the largest share of offensive players (94%) returning from last season, with rookie Henry Ruggs III the only new projected starter on that side of the ball, defense is a different story. The Raiders figure to have at least five new starters there, all while adjusting to new surroundings after the offseason move from Oakland to Las Vegas across the California-Nevada border.