It makes sense in a lot of ways… Kyle Shanahan would be a good philosophical fit for a team which wants to reestablish its running game.
NFL.com reported on Wednesday that Shanahan is interviewing for the OC job in Baltimore.
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that the Baltimore Ravens have interviewed Shanahan for their vacant offensive coordinator position, according to a source informed of their plans.
The news comes four days after Shanahan interviewed for the Miami Dolphins' offensive coordinator position. Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor was hired to fill that position Wednesday.
Shanahan was among the staff let go after Mike Shanahan was dismissed by the Washington Redskins this month. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Shanahan has made the decision to continue his NFL career unassociated with his father.
The Ravens are looking for an offensive coordinator after Jim Caldwell was hired as head coach of the Detroit Lions. The Baltimore Sun reported the team expected to interview several candidates for the job, including wide receivers coach Jim Hostler.
Shanahan was perceived as an assistant on the rise before it all fell apart in D.C. The Ravens would represent a good spot for a career rebound.
Shanahan is 34 years old but already has 10 years of assistant coaching experience in the NFL, dating back to his time with Tampa Bay as an offensive quality control guy in 2004 and 2005.
He of course is the son of the famous NFL head coach Mike Shanahan, who was recently fired by the Redskins after a disastrous 3-13 season.
You might not know this, but Kyle Shanahan was a wide receiver for the Texas Longhorns back in his college days.
Soon after he graduated from Texas in 2003, Shanahan became graduate assistant to Karl Dorrell at UCLA. Following that season, Shanahan was hired as assistant coach for offensive quality control under head coach Jon Gruden with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gruden had held a similar position with the San Francisco 49ers in 1990, at about the same age that Shanahan had in 2004.
In 2006, Shanahan was hired by Gary Kubiak to serve as wide receivers coach for the Houston Texans. Kubiak had previously served as offensive coordinator under Mike Shanahan with the Broncos. At the time, Kyle Shanahan was the youngest position coach in the NFL. A season later, Shanahan received another promotion to become the Texans quarterback coach. In 2007, he had also been offered to become offensive coordinator at the University of Minnesota, where former Broncos assistant Tim Brewster just became head coach. Shanahan declined, citing his decision to be an NFL coach.
On January 11, 2008, he was officially promoted, becoming the youngest OC in the NFL, being more than three years younger than Josh McDaniels of the New England Patriots. In 2010, Shanahan left the Texans to join his father with the Washington Redskins.
In 2012, Shanahan was fined $25,000 for insulting the replacement officials and confronting one after the game.
He was fired December 30th, 2013 from the Redskins in "package deal purge" along with his father. It's impossible to blame Shanahan for the chaos of the Redskins organization right now. You pretty much have to look at ownership for the mess in D.C. The Shanahans were bulldozed by a win-now-at-any-cost mentality that mortgaged the team's future with the expensive signing of RG III, among other risky moves, and basically handcuffed the team's draft prospects for years.
And yes, Kyle Shanahan is an X's and O's guy. But he seems able to relate well to today's players, mainly because he is still young enough to be one of them.
But it all goes to his play-calling, and that's where he will be most scrutinized by the fans of Baltimore if he lands the gig.
"I've studied every potential X's and O's play and issue possible. I spent my whole life working on that. My goal was that any question a player could have about anything on the field, I'd be able to answer it."
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